Brenda Burling Books

Julia Weston had everything - wealth, security, and a life curated to perfection. But perfection is fragile.

When a minor inconvenience spirals into catastrophe, Julia’s world collapses in a single day. Her husband has vanished. Her children are missing. Her home has been sold. Her life has been erased. Every safety net she trusted has been quietly dismantled, leaving her stranded in a reality she doesn’t recognize.

Alone and cut off, Julia is forced to confront a truth more devastating than loss: the person she trusted most has deceived her completely.

Thrown from the comfort of the English countryside into the unfamiliar intensity of Florida’s tourism underbelly, Julia must navigate fear, isolation and a web of secrets that grows darker with every step. With no allies and nowhere left to turn, she discovers a resilience she never knew she possessed.

But as Julia comes closer to discovering the truth – and finding her children - she begins to realise that some betrayals run deeper than she ever imagined, and some consequences cannot be undone.

A gripping and emotionally charged psychological drama about survival and the strength it takes to rebuild when everything is taken from you.

 A place to heal the soul… In the wake of her parents’ deaths, Cassie Monroe travels to Spain and memories of childhood holidays to consider her future and escape the void which threatens to consume her. The last thing she expected was to encounter the man who might be her soul mate and her salvation. A bright new world turned dark… Rex Macio falls hard for the grieving beauty, wanting nothing more than to care for her and make her a part of his life. Their time in Spain is idyllic, but their return to reality plunges them into a corrupt world of drugs, degradation, and murder. Rex cherishes Cassie, but his divided loyalties leave him powerless to halt their perilous slide down the slope of mutual destruction. One last chance to regain the light… Following a deadly turn of events, Cassie once again flees to Spain…but this time it’s to hide. Her security is once again shattered when a midnight intruder violates her sanctuary. Who is Alec Murphy, and what does he want? Will Cassie ever feel safe again, or will lies from the past destroy her once and for all? 

Fifteen years after her father’s death and the events that shattered her family, Phoebe Weston thought the past was buried.

Every year, on the anniversary of her father’s death, she and her twin sister return to his grave. But this time, something is different. A woman and a teenage boy appear - strangers mourning a man Phoebe believed she understood. Before she can reach them, they vanish, leaving behind only questions, and a message she can’t ignore.

Drawn into a quiet but relentless search for answers, Phoebe uncovers a hidden connection that stretches across continents, uncovering fragments of truth through letters, memories, and stories that refuse to stay hidden. Each revelation draws her back into the darkest chapter of her family’s history, revealing a past far more complicated than she was ever told.

As secrets surface, long-buried truths begin to fracture everything she thought she knew about her father, his past, and the events that changed their lives forever.

But the deeper Phoebe digs, the more she must confront the consequences of choices made long before she had any say in them, and the emotional weight they still carry.

Because not all lies are meant to hurt, and not all truths bring peace.

Consequences is a powerful, emotionally driven story of love, loss, and the fragile, unbreakable ties that define what family truly means.

 Might Make You Smile is a collection of short stories based on real events from real people living with or recovering from cancer. Written by Brenda Burling, with help from people all over the UK, Might Make You Smile is far from your typical book about cancer. Mainly because the focus here isn’t on the disease; it’s on the people. Might Make You Smile tells the stories that you don’t often hear. From getting funny looks on your commute because your eyebrows are green, to losing your wig and even getting your nipple shot off with a foam dart; Might Make You Smile really does cover everything. Often funny and always heartwarming, Might Make You Smile is the book that demonstrates that even The Big C comes with a sense of humour. 

 You might think comedy and cancer are a bit like chalk and cheese. Good for a Grin wants you to think differently. A collection of short stories, this book is based on the real life accounts of men across the UK - all of them proving that cancer doesn't have to be the end of the world. These are real men, living real lives, who have felt the sting of cancer in their lives, either directly or through a loved one. Research has shown that men find it more difficult to talk about cancer - the symptoms, the effects, the impact it has on their lives. We hope that this book can go some way to changing that; there's nothing to be embarrassed about, there's no shame in it and there's no reason to feel alone. Laughter is a wonderful way to bring people together and help them feel comfortable, and this book is full of laughs. Written by Brenda Burling - author of the original cancer chronicle, Might Make You Smile, which focussed more on a female perspective - Good for a Grin puts the spotlight on men. These hilarious short stories have been written to lighten the mood, to crack a smile and to bring you to tears with laughter. 

 "Family, however it comes, is bonded by love." As an unmarried mother-to-be, Sal is determined to make the best of a bad situation, and decides to move away from the city to build a new life for herself and her baby. When she begins her new job at a small-town doctor's surgery, she discovers people are less judgemental than feared, and new relationships are forged that transform her life forever. Mother's Love follows Sal's journey through the peaks and troughs, tragedy and triumph of life and motherhood, and explores her unique relationships with each of her daughters - their lives intertwined by the tenuous bonds of love and sisterhood. 

 Cancer Sucks! but we’ve got to talk about it…

Cancer isn’t an easy thing to talk about: Nobody knows what you’re going through, how you’re really feeling, or even what to say. It can be an exhausting, isolating, experience - especially when all you want is a brew and a chat.

Cancer Quips is a book born out of positivity and connections with other people. When author Brenda Burling began gathering stories for her work, she realised the love, community and power that came from men and women opening up about their cancer journeys. What’s more, she realised just how much this connection could help others.

In that moment, Brenda realised how important it would be to share these stories. Some are laugh-out-loud funny, some are heartwarming and others are so absurd you’d think they were made up. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction!

Cancer Quips combines Brenda Burling’s previous two books Might Make You Smile and Good For a Grin into one easy to read volume designed to provide a knowing ear to anyone on a journey with The Big C." 

You can hear Brenda on Harlow Hospital Radio with Gareth Carr on Thursday 28th May from 5.15pm. You can listen live here:  Harlow Hospital Radio – Your Very Own Bedside Friend Since 1970 

How have the stories affected Brenda?  How Have The Stories Affected Brenda Burling? | Might Make You Smile 

What impact would Brenda like to have with her books?  Brenda Burling on the Potential Impact of Might Make You Smile | Might Make You Smile 

The Table Read -  Get To Know Brenda Burling, author of Mother's Love, on The Table Read Magazine 

Brenda's Waffle with Wallis -  Author Brenda Burling comes for a Waffle with Wallis 

Brenda's favourite stories -  Brenda's Favourite Stories | Might Make You Smile 

Writing the stories -  Writing The Stories | Might Make You Smile