The Beauty of Broken Things

“Suddenly Kerry saw Alex as he must appear in the other man’s eyes. Old, poor, broken and alone: a failure by every conventional measure. Someone like Mike could never perceive the depth of soul and the ragged, leonine grace that made Alex more mesmerising than anyone in the room.”

Kerry is forty-something, out of work, and reeling from a recent divorce. She's also grappling with crippling anxiety. When she volunteers to sort second hand goods at a mental health charity shop in Manchester, she meets the collection of big-hearted but complicated people responsible for keeping the operation going, including Alex, a man who is seventeen years older than her and who sets her on fire.

But Alex is struggling with mental health issues of his own. He’s clinically depressed; a photographer who used to work with the rich and famous but was forced out of the limelight years ago by the all-consuming effects of his condition. Now, unwell and precariously reliant on welfare, he doubts he can make any woman happy, although he can’t deny that he’s deeply in love with Kerry.

The forthright shop manager, Sue, does everything in her power to drive the couple apart, certain they’re destined to make each other suffer. As Kerry and Alex fight to make it work, the charity shop goes through trials of its own, including a devastating loss that no one saw coming.