Lift Me Up (2026)
OUT NOW!
A heartwarming story from Sunday Times bestseller Milly Johnson.
Tam Remington had her life planned out. Until a conversation in a broken lift—with her worst enemy—changes everything.
For a decade, Tam has quietly held YorkMart together whilst others took the credit, making herself smaller in the process. When she’s briefly promoted to acting Managing Director, she finally has a chance to shine—until her promotion is snatched away and handed to Jack Cesaroni—the man brought in to do the job that should have been hers.
Tam expects nothing but disappointment from Jack. But when they’re trapped in a lift between floors thirteen and fourteen, he sees what no one else has: Tam is exceptional. That single word of recognition sparks something Tam thought she’d lost—and an unexpected connection she never saw coming.
Now Tam faces an impossible choice: stay being the smaller version of herself she’s become used to, or take a leap and reclaim the vibrant, authentic woman she once was—and discover how wonderful it could be if she lets someone see the real her…
For fans of Jenny Colgan and Jill Mansell, this enemies-to-lovers story shows sometimes you need to get stuck to find your true self.
A couple of things about the book that may be of interest, The horrible brother is called Jame – not James – because I thought his awful parents would want to ring in the difference with the traditional. They are very pretentious which is why Hellen has an extra letter and Tamantha is a hybrid of their names (Samantha and Thomas). Originally all this was explained but I had to let it go because of the word count. Also Jame is the killer in the Silence of the Lambs, so that intimates he isn’t a pleasant character.
Weddings are very stressful and looking back at my own and wondering if all those alarm bells were just wedding nerves… well, I should have heeded them because they were alarm bells. But easy to get confused with so much going on. And I thought it was an interesting concept to have something inside Tam revived by just that one word, something that is looking out for her own survival and that one word is all that hidden part of her needs to start growing and acting.
Over the past few years I’ve seen so many fall outs within families and blood really isn’t a guarantee of love or respect or kindness, sometimes you just have to make your own family – friends, the family you choose for yourself.
I did work for a leading supermarket once, one of the best jobs I ever had and I am still friends with the women I met there (they inspired the Yorkshire Pudding Club). The bosses I had were bloody awful mind, but it was still a dynamic place to work so that inspired the backdrop.
I like to write about renaissances. Too many women get trapped in dysfunction and it’s an incredibly hard thing to break out of… but the important thing is that my ladies do – sometimes better late than never, sometimes at the eleventh hour, BUT THEY DO. And the grass really is greener at the other side. Maybe it’s inspired by me desperately sure I was making a mistake getting married but going ahead with it to save face. It was a massive mistake. But I got two great kids out of it and a load of writing material… so I win. But I still get that feeling sometimes in dreams of being trapped and I do wonder what my life would be like if I’d had the courage to follow my instincts! I was never brave enough… but a couple of my characters have been.