Secret Collector Johnson Abigail (2025)

An uplifting and warm story about friendship across generations, the power of community and finding hope where it has been lost, perfect for fans of Sally Page’s The Keeper of Stories and Evie Woods’s The Lost Bookshop. When an elderly eccentric collector and a troubled teenager become each other’s only hope of getting their lives back on track, what can possibly go wrong? Alfred is an elderly widower who uses antiques and collectibles to fill the hole in his heart left by his late wife. Kian is a lost teenager who has been let down by the care system and finds it difficult to stay on the straight and narrow. After Kian throws a brick through Alfred’s window, the shock sends Alfred to hospital and a social worker to his home, where his hoarding becomes impossible to ignore. Begrudgingly, and at the request of the authorities, they both agree to enrol Kian in a restorative justice programme to help make Alfred’s home liveable again. The only problem is that Alfred does not want to throw any of his treasures away, and certainly does not want Kian for company. What follows is a surprising and delightful journey in which two characters help each other more than they ever could have anticipated and, along the way, form the unlikeliest of friendships. Readers describe the novel as a story of pure joy, charming and deeply moving, with one observing that it shows how just one person who believes in you can change your life.