Skip to content

WIN proof copies of Meet Me At Rainbow Corner by Celia Imrie

For Adults

Bloomsbury are delighted to be offering six reading group ten copies of new, heart-warming summer blockbuster by national treasure and Sunday Times bestselling author Celia Imrie, MEET ME AT RAINBOW CORNER.

‘Utterly charming and engrossing’ – JOANNA LUMLEY
’Hugely enjoyable’ – ROSIE GOODWIN
‘I loved it’ – SUE CLEAVER

London, 1944. The air raid sirens are blaring, the bombers are hovering. England has been at war with Germany for four years, and there’s no sign of peace coming. Dot Gallagher, newly arrived from Liverpool to offer her services as a nurse, hurries from her Red Cross hostel to the tube station to join the crowds of people taking shelter. A group of GIs have started dancing around a wind-up gramophone, and it doesn’t take long for Dot to join them. As she jives along with one of the American soldiers, he tells her about Rainbow Corner, a social club in Piccadilly for US troops. There is always a demand for dance hostesses there, women who know how to jitterbug and rock’n’roll, to dance with the soldiers. Would Dot like to apply?

As Dot discovers, Rainbow Corner is like no other place, an oasis in London where, once inside, the constraints of wartime Britain disappear. There is no rationing, all luxuries are available, including a constant stream of donuts, chewing gum and cola. There are restaurants and cafes, boxing matches and movies, and, much to Dot’s delight, a huge dance hall. Rather like an Embassy, Rainbow Corner is essentially a plot of America in central London.

It is there that Dot becomes firm friends with many of the other hostesses, and in particular with Lilly, who works for the Colonel.

Meet Me at Rainbow Corner follows the lives of Dot, Lilly and their friends, as they dance the nights away, fall in and out of love, and navigate the horrors of war. Lilly goes on a secret mission with her Colonel to France, and Dot becomes pregnant and returns to Liverpool. When the war is over, they are re-united, having travelled by boat to the US with countless other war brides to meet their repatriated fiancés again. Along the way, they uncover a case of inside espionage and learn the true meaning of love.

To be in with a chance of winning copies for your reading group, please email cristiana.caserini@bloomsbury.com with the subject line ‘RE: MEET ME AT RAINBOW CORNER’ by 23rd June.

News

Book clubs – Get Ready to Connect!

The Book Club Hub, formerly known as Reading Groups for Everyone, is packed with amazing features to keep you and your fellow readers connected — not just within your club, but with the entire Book Club Hub community. Find out how to have members join your online book club.

Resources

Book Club Hub - Book Club User Guide

The Book Club Hub is a platform connecting readers and book clubs of all ages across the UK. It is managed by national reading charity, The Reading Agency. The Book Club Hub offers book club leaders access to free offers from publishers and prizes in return for reviews, gives them the chance to read the latest books and author news to help them pick their next read, and allows them to download resources to use with their club. Readers can also share reviews of the books they have read and...

News

Xtraordinary People by Kate Griggs Giveaway

We are delighted to offer 10 copies of #XtraordinaryPeople by kategriggs_dyslexicthinking from our friends over at DKBooks for readers!

View our other programmes