Stepping Up: the joyful and emotional Sunday Times bestseller and Richard and Judy Book Club pick 2023. Adored by readers

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Heartwarming and heartbreaking. Full of warmth and Turner's perceptive parenting humour. This is a book that will break your heart and make you fall in love all at once! Katy Colins, author of THE BEST IS YET TO COME Heartwarming and heartbreaking. Full of warmth and Turner's perceptive parenting humour. This is a book that will break your heart and make you fall in love all at once! * Katy Colins, author of THE BEST IS YET TO COME * I loved & hated how much this book made me feel! I wasn’t prepared to feel such wonderful raw emotions for fictional characters! It has to be said that of late I’ve turned into a more emotional person but still…My heart is so full but aches so much at the same time! How is that possible?! Imagine having a carefree life, coming and going as you please, quitting things you didn’t enjoy. Then suddenly following a tragedy you take over caring for a teenager and a toddler. Stop EVERYTHING and read this! Funny, tender and beautifully observed. Loved, loved, LOVED it!' Cathy Bramley, author of THE LEMON TREE CAFE

After three bestselling Unmumsy Mum books, you’ve now released your debut novel, Stepping Up – what inspired you to turn your hand to fiction? Do you go into a book completely blind? I follow Sarah Turner aka The Unmumsy mum on the socials and have followed her journey as a mother. Agreeing and championing what she reveals and says. So when I saw that she had written a novel, a work of fiction I knew I wanted to read it but also I had my preconceived ideas. I thought the book would be predictable, light and fluffy and a rom com. Why? I don't know why? I was completely wrong 💕What a fantastic read - it had me in tears! This book grabbed me by the heartstrings and didn't let go! It has it all - warmth, humour and brilliant observations on love, life and loss. An emotional rollercoaster of a read and one that is well worth taking! * Sarah Pearse, author of THE SANATORIUM * With a little help from her best friend Jory (purely platonic, of course ...) and her lovely, lonely next-door neighbour, Albert, Beth is determined that this time she's not giving up. It's time to step up. A moving and beautifully-told tale of parenthood but not as you know it. I just loved it.' Gillian McAllister Beth is now guardian to her teenage niece and toddler nephew, catapulted into an unfamiliar world of bedtime stories, parents' evenings and cuddly elephants. Having never been responsible for anyone - or anything - it's not long before she feels seriously out of her depth.

The storyline. It was just so well written. The book covers some heavy themes but it was done really well & just felt so heartbreakingly real 💔 What a fantastic read - it had me in tears! This book grabbed me by the heartstrings and didn't let go! It has it all - warmth, humour and brilliant observations on love, life and loss. An emotional rollercoaster of a read and one that is well worth taking! Sarah Pearse, author of THE SANATORIUM In fact, there was a lot of light in this novel. From love interest Jory (who you can’t help falling in love with) to dear friend Arthur (the bow tie scene squeezed my heart), Turner has cleverly blended the every day with the extraordinary, and sadness with joy to make an uplifting and tender read. It is a story about digging deep for strength you never knew you had, and finding magic in the little things that were there all along. Written with such love and heart. Sarah has done an exceptional job of marrying her trademark comedy with deep and raw emotion. I loved it! Giovanna Fletcher It’s difficult to leave a review about this story that will do it justice, it was simply excellent.It had me laughing out loud, on a bus no less, crying and laughing. This book is a tonic! I read it in one go. I was rooting for Beth the whole way through!!' So we have Beth. A single woman who can't commit to a job, or a relationship, suddenly thrust into the role of mother/aunt, looking after her teenage niece and toddler nephew. With a cranky old neighbour to contend with, a mother with extremely high expectations, yet with no hope that Beth will deliver, and a best friend who seems to be drifting away, at a time when she needs him more than ever. Stepping Up is a heart-blasting triumph of a novel - wise, witty and wonderfully human. Isabelle Broom, author of THE GETAWAY

Stop EVERYTHING and read this! Funny, tender and beautifully observed. Loved, loved, LOVED it! * Cathy Bramley * This book is one of the best I've read in a long time! I have never read any of the 'Unmumsy Mum' but Sarah Turner's novel 'Stepping Up' is really fresh and engaging and made me laugh out loud and cry in equal measure.Doorheen haar reis toont Beth aan de lezer dat het best oké is om niet te hard of te streng te zijn voor jezelf en weet ze het verhaal luchtig te maken met haar gevoel voor humor. I hope readers will find it to be an uplifting tale of love and loss and the power of hope to brighten even the darkest days. An unspeakable tragedy turns Beth's life upside down, and she finds herself guardian to her teenage niece and toddler nephew, catapulted into an unfamiliar world of bedtime stories, parents' evenings and cuddly elephants. Having never been responsible for anyone - or anything - it's not long before she feels seriously out of her depth. Wow. What a read. This isn’t usually my go to genre. However, it is the sort of movie/tv show I would watch, so I was ecstatic to be given the chance to read this, and I loved it!