Review: The Postcard, Zoe Folbigg

 This novel is a delightful romantic comedy from Zoe Folbigg. Maya and her boyfriend, James, are off on a year-long travelling adventure, starting off in India and making their way through Asia. After an opulent start, they endure discomforts of comically epic proportions while trying to find their stride, from sleeping in a luggage-esque compartment of a bus, to a spa selling self-applied colonics in an attempt to spice up Maya's travel column. 

Maya's best friend, Nena, meanwhile, is back at home with her newborn, Ava, and Arlo, her stepson, trying desperately to navigate her way through the special yet incredibly exhausting and lonely time that is the first stage of motherhood. 

Maya's and James' travelling, however, is married by a sub story of a woman called Manon, who has disappeared. The reader meets Manon from time to time, and must be suffering from some kind of hallucinations as she is regularly tormented by Napoleon Bonaparte. 

The Postcard is a wonderfully enjoyable read, full of humour, warmth, and sparkle. It's very much along the lines of Jojo Moyes and Marian Keyes, and I would add that it's every bit as well written as a Moyes or Keyes story. 

The Postcard is available now.