The Peacock Emporium

by Jojo Moyes

Overview

An early work from the New York Times bestselling author of The Giver of Stars, Jojo Moyes, the story of a young woman who opens an eclectic shop and comes to terms with the secrets of her past.

In the sixties, Athene Forster was the most glamorous girl of her generation. Nicknamed the Last Deb, she was also beautiful, spoiled, and out of control. When she agreed to marry the gorgeous young heir Douglas Fairley-Hulme, her parents breathed a sigh of relief. But within two years, rumors had begun to circulate about Athene's affair with a young salesman.

Thirty-five years later, Suzanna Peacock is struggling with her notorious mother's legacy. The only place Suzanna finds comfort is in The Peacock Emporium, the beautiful coffee bar and shop she opens that soon enchants her little town. There she makes perhaps the first real friends of her life, including Alejandro, a male midwife, escaping his own ghosts in Argentina.

The specter of her mother still haunts Suzanna. But only by confronting both her family and her innermost self will she finally reckon with the past--and discover that the key to her history, and her happiness, may have been in front of her all along.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780735222335
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	04/09/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	166,678
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Jojo Moyes is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Giver of Stars, Me Before You, After You, Still Me, Paris for One and Other Stories, One Plus One, The Girl You Left Behind, The Last Letter from Your Lover, Horse Dancer, Silver Bay, The Ship of Brides, and The Peacock Emporium. She lives with her husband and three children in Essex, England.

Read an Excerpt

 

Reading Group Guide

1. The Peacock Emporium is about Suzanna coming to terms with her family and her past, but it is also a love story, as well as an ensemble piece about the ways a small town reacts around issues of domestic violence. Do you think the elements came together to create a realistic and cohesive narrative? Why or why not? Which storyline compelled you the most?

2. In this novel, Suzanna must reckon with her mother’s scandalous past and the way in which this history affects her own identity. How important a role do you think parents’ lives should play in the foundation of one’s own identity?

3. Suzanna, the protagonist, is an enigma to the end. She continually denies her true feelings, and is stalled in life out of passivity, confusion, and fear, yet these are very understandable human reactions. Did you understand why Suzanna decided to keep everything to herself, and why she had trouble letting others get close to her? What do you think motivates her? Is it her unhappiness and feelings of not belonging or being good enough—or something else entirely? Or why do you think she’s so unhappy in her marriage?

4. Some of the great joys of this novel are the wonderful secondary characters, such as Arturro, Father Lenny, Mrs. Creek, etc. Which of these characters stood out most for you? Did you relate personally to any of them? In what ways?

5. Suzanna makes a point of not inviting her husband, Neil, to the opening of the Peacock Emporium, because she “wanted something that was hers, pure and pleasurable, untainted by her and Neil’s history. Uncomplicated by people” (p. 83). What do you think she meant by this?

6. Suzanna is so different from the rest of the Fairley-Hulmes—both emotionally and in terms of her outlook on life. How do you think these differences helped or hindered her relationships within her family? How do they shape her choices regarding the shop?

7. How did you come to understand Suzanna and Neil’s marriage? Did you understand and believe in the relationship that develops between her and Arturro, and did you anticipate what happened between them?

8. Did you like the way the ending connected to the beginning of the novel, having come full circle? Did you think it made for a satisfying ending?

Editorial Reviews

12/10/2018

Moyes moves forward from her Me Before You trilogy with an emotionally luscious, freestanding novel about generations of mothers and daughters navigating grief and the satisfaction of self-discovery. Suzanna Peacock lives in a small town in Suffolk near the estate of the family from whom she has estranged herself, and struggles with an unsettled marriage and pressure to have a baby. Despite her awkwardness with people, she opens a quirky coffee and curio shop. A young mother in an abusive relationship and an Argentinian male midwife become her close friends at the shop, but she keeps even from them her inner turmoil about her relationships to her missing birth mother, wild debutante Athene Forster, and to Vivi Fairley-Hulme, the mother who raised her. Moyes moves back and forth though the timeline to tell Suzanne and Vivi’s stories with profound sympathy. Though this is not a romance novel like Moyes’s previous works, it maintains their legacy of diving into the emotions of desire and connection, and a spirit of optimism and setting the world right. Agent: Sheila Crowley, Curtis Brown (U.K.). (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Still Me:

“Delightful.” —People

“Full of charming antics . . . Entertaining.” —Associated Press

“Still Me offers a warm conclusion to the Me Before You trilogy . . . resulting in the best entry in the trilogy yet. . . . Moyes has crafted a clear-eyed tale of self-discovery and the sacrifice required to live a life honestly in pursuit of the things you love. . . . [It will] keep you sighing with delight to the very last page. A.” —Entertainment Weekly (online)

“Jojo’s work never fails to bring a smile to my face with her honesty, humor, and empathy about what it is to be human—[Still Me is] a must read!” —Emilia Clarke

“While the series may have started off as a romance, Jojo Moyes has turned Louisa Clark’s story into one about learning to be, and to love, yourself.” —Bustle

“You sobbed through Me Before You. You sped through After You. And now, Lou is back in Still Me. . . . Don’t miss this funny, romantic third installment.” —HelloGiggles

“Entertaining, often very funny.” —Newsday

“Moyes’s easy way of making you instantly care for her characters (deeply) prevails.” —goop

Praise for After You:

“Jojo Moyes has a hit with After You.” —USA Today

“Think Elizabeth Bennet after Darcy’s eventual death; Alice after Gertrude; Wilbur after Charlotte. The ‘aftermath’ is a subject most writers understandably avoid, but Moyes has tackled it and given readers an affecting, even entertaining female adventure tale about a broken heroine who ultimately rouses herself and falls in love again, this time with the possibilities in her own future.” —Maureen Corrigan, Fresh Air, NPR

“The genius of Moyes . . . [is that she] peers deftly into class issues, social mores, and complicated relationships that raise as many questions as they answer. And yet there is always resolution. It’s not always easy, it’s not always perfect, it’s sometimes messy and not completely satisfying. But sometimes it is.” —Bobbi Dumas, NPR.org

“Charming.” —People

“Expect tears and belly laughs from Me Before You’s much anticipated sequel.” —Cosmopolitan

“Moyes is at her most charming here, writing with a sense of humorous affection about family dynamics among working-class Brits. . . . A Maeve Binchy for the twenty-first century.” —Kirkus Reviews

“[A] heart-tugger.” —Good Housekeeping

“Like its predecessor [Me Before You], After You is a comic and breezy novel that also tackles bigger, more difficult subjects, in this case, grief and moving on. . . . We all lose what we love at some point, but in her poignant, funny way, Moyes reminds us that even if it’s not always happy, there is an ever after.” —The Miami Herald

“Once again, Moyes delivers a heart-wrenching and relatable book about love and loss that will stay with you long after you’ve finished.” —InStyle.com 

“Moyes wisely knows that life-changing events don’t always change our lives for the better. . . . After You may not be the sequel you expect, but it is the sequel you needed.” —Entertainment Weekly

Praise for Me Before You:

“A hilarious, heartbreaking, riveting novel . . . I will stake my reputation on this book.” —Anne Lamott, People

“When I finished this novel, I didn’t want to review it; I wanted to reread it. . . . An affair to remember.” —The New York Times Book Review

“An unlikely love story . . . to be devoured like candy, between tears.” —O, The Oprah Magazine

“Funny and moving but never predictable.” —USA Today (four stars)

From the Publisher

2019-01-16

A British woman struggles to deal with her eminent family's legacy and her own unhappiness as she opens an eclectic shop in her hometown.

Suzanna Peacock's mother, Athene, a glamorous socialite who was known for being flighty and spoiled, died before Suzanna could ever get to know her. Raised by her father and his second wife, Vivi, Suzanna grew up with lots of love but also Athene's complicated legacy hanging over her head. That's why Suzanna was all too happy to escape her family and move to London. But when she and her husband, Neil, are forced to move back to her small hometown and live on the family estate, Suzanna feels trapped and isolated. Looking for an outlet, she opens a shop, The Peacock Emporium. She fills it with things she finds beautiful and offers espresso, hoping to create a place of her own. What she inadvertently designs, though, is a gathering place for the town's residents. Suzanna becomes particularly interested in Alejandro, a male midwife from Argentina who seems to understand her more than her husband does. She also makes friends with Jessie, a friendly and free-spirited young mother who starts working in the shop. With the help of several townspeople, Suzanna discovers that she must take control of her own life and come to terms with her family's history if she ever wants to be happy. Moyes excels at creating quirky characters and sweeping stories, but her latest lacks the sense of humor and epic love story that made her hit Me Before You (2012) such a success. Although this is Suzanna's story, frequent point-of-view shifts are distracting and make it more difficult to focus on her journey. Still, there are quite a few tear-jerking scenes and lovable characters that should make Moyes fans happy.

An interesting premise that's stuffed with too many characters.

Kirkus Reviews

Restless Suzanna Peacock has always hoped that her next venture--her marriage or her high living in London or, now, her new shop in the town where she grew up--would bring her perfect fulfillment. Her tribulations are spoken by Judith Boyd, who turns this novel into a stellar dramatic reading. We expect a narrator to deliver different voices and sound ranges, and sometimes a tone that describes the places on the pages, but this narrator lets you know at the beginning that you have entered a special arena. You know when she announces each chapter that she is figuratively drawing back a stage curtain and inviting you to enter the novel with her. This is the way excellence sounds. J.P. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

AUG/SEP 06 - AudioFile