For some, life is all about a meeting till 5, picking up groceries by 6 and getting everything cooked for a dinner party at 7.

For others, it’s as stressful as sipping a martini on a yacht.

Put the title character in Kirstan Hawkins’s sunny debut novel, Doña Nicanora’s Hat Shop, in group two — until life in her sleepy Latin American town gets flipped upside down by a loopy traveller and Nicanora’s vagrant son, Ernesto.

Overnight, everything takes a tumultuous turn. Old friends and mischievous wives suddenly go missing, dredging up past romances and painful regrets, and foolish childhood choices haunt the heroine to distraction. Add to the mix a philandering mayor and a teenage daughter learning what it means to lust Latino style.

It’s a sweet and funny tale that will take you far away from the daily grind.

You know, if you can squeeze it in.

Available online at amazon.co.uk.

Photo: Courtesy of Amazon