Books
2007
A girl may have to kiss a lot of frogs before she finds her Prince Charming but Marigold has found herself a real toad. As a principal dancer at the Lenoir Ballet Company, she is on her way to becoming a Prima Ballerina. She has the talent and the ballet director, Sebastian Lenoir, has her bent over backwards - quite literally - working her way to the top. But, when a painful fall sends her limping home to Northumberland to recuperate, Marigold fears that this could mean the end to her dreams. Luckily, her childhood friend, Rafe, who is just as delicious as she remembers him, is ready and waiting to sweep her off her feet. But is there a handsome stranger waiting in the wings?
Moonshine
2004
Roberta is appalled to have to abandon her perfect life in London to return to the family home and look after her mother, who has taken breaking her hip as a sign to stay in bed all day reading romance novels. Her involvement with a married polititian may have been a direct consequence of this. When the inevitable scandal breaks, Roberta flees -- and accepts a job as housekeeper to an eccentric family, and is summoned to their family home -- an enormous castle in the Irish countryside.
Arriving in Ireland, Roberta takes a hair-raising pony and trap ride in the driving rain to reach her destination: Curraghcourt. It is a grand and imposing castle, although it has fallen into a state of bad disrepair. And when she meets the family, Roberta begins to understand why. The owner's wife, Violet, is lying in her room in a coma. His charming but vague sister is addicted to poetry; and his mistress Sissy has a private line to the fairies. Completing the family unit are three dysfunctional children.
The novel follows Roberta's efforts to restore Curraghcourt and reform the wayward family. She quickly finds redeeming qualities in even the most infuriating characters and falls in love with the melancholy madness of the household.
Clouds Among the Stars
2003
The Byng family, theatrical down to the youngest, 12 year-old Cordelia, are stunned out of even their normal self-involvement by the news that their father, the celebrated Shakespearean actor, has apparently killed his rival on stage during the last rehearsals for the new production of King Lear. Waldo Byng is arrested for murder and held in police custody : the press camp outside the house, detectives attempt to interview the family and friends, and Clarissa Byng abandons the entire scene by fleeing with her longtime companion. It is left to the rest of the family to try to find a way through this disaster and above all to earn some money as the play is naturally cancelled.
The nine months from arrest to the final trial are a wonderful learning curve about the real world for all of them, in particular for Harriet, considered the most 'sensible' of the remarkable family.
Running Wild
2000
Elfrida Swann, a struggling portrait painter known to everyone as Freddie, is about to marry Alex Moncrieff, a successful barrister. Preparations for the great day, arranged with magnificent extravagance by her smart stepmother in the hope of inciting bitterest envy among her acquaintance, are on schedule. The bridesmaids' bouquets are made up, the cake is decorated, the altar is adorned. Then, two days before the wedding, Freddie--a byword among her friends for common sense and dependability--decides that she cannot go through with the marriage.
Unable to face the fury and anguish of Alex, her parents and, it seems, almost everyone she has ever known, Freddie runs away to Drop Cottage in Dorset, lent to her by a friend. At first sight, its state of dilapidation is so extreme that Freddie feels she cannot possibly stay. But rapidly she falls under the spell of its idiosyncratic charms--and events conspire to detain her...
Dance with me
1999
Young, decorative and almost without formal schooling, Viola Otway takes a job with a charity working for the conservation of old houses. An assignment at Inskip House brings her into contact with the handsome, lazy and utterly charming Jeremy, and love soon grows.
Past Mischief
1998
Miranda seems to have everything - looks, brains, three children and a 15th-century moated manor house in Kent, but when she finds her husband dead, shot in the chest, her friends believe that fortune has turned against one of her darlings. Yet, this is just the beginning of a better life for her.
Out of Love
1997
Min is struggling with domestic and personal problems. Daisy finds herself increasingly thrown together with Robert, Min's husband: a mutual attraction grows.
How will this affect her rekindled friendship with Min? Is history about to repeat itself?
Work in progress:
I am working on novel number eight.
News:
My books for children, written more than 30 years ago, are now published again in the UK and USA. See the 'Children's Books' page.
'A Girl's Guide to Kissing Frogs' (HarperCollins, 2007) has been short-listed for the Melissa Nathan Award 2008.
Blog
I started a weblog a year ago as somewhere to jot down my thoughts about the things that interest me day to day and occupy my thoughts when not writing a novel. It has yet to develop beyond the first entry - but it will, it will. You can visit it here.