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Win a Kindle Paperwhite worth over £100 plus a copy of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep **NOW CLOSED**

(602 Posts)
SorchaGransnet (GNHQ) Mon 16-Jan-17 15:23:26

To celebrate the publication of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep, a charming coming-of-age debut novel by Joanna Cannon, we're giving you the chance to win a Kindle Paperwhite.

Mrs Creasy is missing and The Avenue is alive with whispers. The neighbours blame the disappearance on the heatwave, but ten-year-olds Grace and Tilly aren't so sure.

As the summer shimmers endlessly on, the girls decide to start their own investigation. And as the cul-de-sac starts giving up its secrets, the amateur detectives find more than they imagined.

Joanna Cannon graduated from Leicester Medical School and worked as a hospital doctor, before specialising in psychiatry. She lives in the Peak District with her family and her dog.

To be in with a chance of winning a Kindle Paperwhite worth over £100 & a copy of the book, tell us - do you remember the heatwave of '76? If so, what are your memories of it?

Post your entry below by midday Monday 13 February.

Usual T&Cs apply.

This discussion is sponsored by HarperCollins

kayleigh39 Thu 09-Feb-17 23:39:28

Heatwave of '76? My husband was playing a charity football match and I was watching when he had to come off through heat exhaustion.

suemcgove123 Fri 10-Feb-17 11:28:25

We lived in a flat on university playing fields.Everyone was getting cranky, it had not rained from march,and it was now september. then it did, We had a balcony that ran round the pavilion , I stripped off and ran round the balcony in the rain, it felt sooo good !!

suziwoo69 Fri 10-Feb-17 11:43:35

passing out whilst waiting for a bus, which made me fall through a shop door, I split my head open resulting in 7 stitches, i still have the scar today.

Grandange Fri 10-Feb-17 13:05:44

I remember it well! On June 10th, in Elba, we celebrated my daughter's 4 th birthday with some other little girls and the most beautifully decorated ice cream cake as only the Italians can do. When we came home, it snowed quite heavily and then the heatwave started. My children refused for the rest of the summer, to go out to play as it was too hot! I was longing for rain or at least a grey day. The occasional heatwave makes you appreciate our mild British climate.....but a few days now and again is much appreciated!

antheaholloway Fri 10-Feb-17 16:08:22

I remember the heatwave of 1976 when the lawn turned brown and my husband managed to rig up some hoses that piped bath water from upstairs down on to the garden!

grannytotwins Fri 10-Feb-17 16:19:38

I was suffering the worst morning, noon and night pregnancy sickness. I could hardly leave the house, except to almost crawl to the Co-op to buy Lucozade which was the only think I could keep down. I had a two year old daughter, who was resigned to seeing her mum, throwing up all the time. I lost so much weight that my wedding ring fell off. I missed the only really good summer we ever had and I still blame my son for it!

CharlieMouse Fri 10-Feb-17 16:54:28

I vividly remember the summer of '76. I was 9 and my sister was 7. We made a camp for ladybirds in an old wheelbarrow in the garden. I remember sending all our friends off with plastic beakers to collect as many ladybirds as they could. I can picture the parched lawns and dusty roads even now.

Bestbuddy1977 Fri 10-Feb-17 17:07:25

Unfortunately I don't...I was born in 77

JANH Fri 10-Feb-17 18:42:44

It was the year after we married and we were doing up an old house. We could only work in the evenings as it was too warm otherwise, we managed to finish it the following year and lived there for 5 years. I remember the dust, which got everywhere and managing to lose weight without even trying.

sheridarby Fri 10-Feb-17 20:12:19

The year of my finals - try revising in a heatwave and then off to Cornwall for the rest of the summer.

traceygre Fri 10-Feb-17 21:08:48

I remember the tar melting in the roads outside our house. At school we had to make vegetable soup even though there was a shortage of tomatoes that year due to the heat. We had to get water from a shared tap in the street. As kids we loved the changes but I expect my parents hated it

yclark Fri 10-Feb-17 22:09:56

Yes I remember it well. I was 15 at the time and during the school holidays I used to spend many days swimming in the local reservoir with friends. I used to come out full of leeches and just used to pick them off then go back in again.
When I think of it now it makes me cringe and shudder and is not something I would want any of my family to do but when you are young you don't have the same fears that you do when you get older.

Sarag250187 Fri 10-Feb-17 22:16:50

I don't remember it but loving reading what everyone else remembers from the time!

osprey72 Fri 10-Feb-17 23:34:35

I don't remember it I'm afraid!

popcorn1 Sat 11-Feb-17 05:49:44

I remember this summer, I was working with horses in my spare time, going to horse shows with my friend and her three quarter bred Arab. Ahhh, what fun!

LaMoi Sat 11-Feb-17 08:57:43

None stop complaining!!!!

sandra63 Sat 11-Feb-17 10:28:51

Yes I remember us girls were allowed to wear our long socks rolled down to our ankles that summer at school. Ankle socks were not usually allowed!

marymod Sat 11-Feb-17 10:29:21

I mostly remember the swarms of ladybirds - couldn't get away from them and they nipped. Also, I think back to the strip washes - one bucket of water each which was then put on the garden.

Taexali1 Sat 11-Feb-17 12:34:26

I fell asleep while reading in a park waiting for a bus home. Got really badly sunburned and missed my bus home. Can't remember a hotter summer - it seemed to last for ever.

Shesanana Sat 11-Feb-17 12:51:18

I remember 1976 as a happy year. Married 3 years and working at a job I enjoyed with great people. And yes the outstanding memory is of the swarms of ladybirds. Impossible to avoid walking through them and on them.....crunching! Yuk!!

greig23 Sat 11-Feb-17 12:58:42

no too young for this lol

Mykuppatea Sat 11-Feb-17 13:21:25

Picnicking on the dry parks, children trying to keep cool using water fountains and ice lollies

Mykuppatea Sat 11-Feb-17 13:23:19

Oh and collecting water from the council vans when there was a water shortage

maclinks Sat 11-Feb-17 13:29:13

I remember it well playing on the swings and enjoying the coolness of the breeze from the movement. and eating lots of icecream.

cactusjo Sat 11-Feb-17 13:56:19

I was at Art School on a Summer educational trip to Paris. In an attic hotel room with three other girls, one tiny skylight window & a boiler for the entire hotels hot water! I came back a desiccated shadow of my former self!