My Novels

For my non-fiction titles, Never Say Die, and I Won't Forgive What You Did (available for pre-order) please visit my shop page...

Below are details of all my published novels to date, together with insights into the backgrounds of each, and first chapters to whet your appetite. I, er, hope...

I love writing novels. Which is handy. Would be awful to have spent such a big chunk of my life wanting to do something and then finding out I didn't much enjoy doing it. Mind you, I know plenty of writers who feel the exact opposite. I think it might have been John Updike who likened a compulsion to write to the extrusion of some terrible secretion that you just have to get rid of  (ugh) and there have been countless others who, when asked, relate this dreadful obsession they have no control over. They don't much want to do it, they just can't not. Phew for me, then, eh? But it just goes to show that novelists come in all shapes and sizes, and I've always been fascinated by the way others go about it, haven't you? 

Well, I figured a few of you might be. Fellow writers who are, therefore,  interested in reading a little more about the novel-writing process a la Lynne Barrett-Lee, might like to take themselves off to the want to write page - where you'll find a selection of pieces I've written on the subject. I could write about writing for ever.

But for everyone not interested in my writerly musings, my novels are:

Out on a Limb -  June 2007

 My mother has just the two modes of operation. Either slightly dramatic or seriously dramatic. That this is the latter means just the one thing. That my day is about to get worse…’

And for single mum, Abbie, life is complex enough. So once her eldest son, Seb, has gone on his gap year, she’s decided it’s time to make changes. She’s just left her old job and started a new one (to escape the gorgeous man-who-turned-out-to-be-married), and is planning some space for herself at long last.
 
But fate seems to have something else in mind for Abbie, in the shape of her demanding and incorrigible mother, whose feckless fourth husband, Hugo, has just died. Temporarily in a wheelchair after a recent knee op, Diana – retired TV fitness icon and dancer – will need looking after, so will have to move in. Still, Abbie tells herself - gritting her teeth - it  won’t be for more than a few weeks… 
 
However, Abbie hasn’t figured on the sudden arrival of Hugo’s 20 years’ estranged son. A suave TV Weatherman, Gabriel Ash not only owns the deeds to what they thought was Hugo’s house, but also has plans of his own…        
  

Barefoot In The Dark - October 2006

Shortlisted for the Melissa Nathan Award for Comedy Romance 2007

(and only narrowly pipped by Marian Keyes. See? I'm good, me)

Do you believe in fairytales?
When Hope Shepherd loses her trainer while boarding the 8.42 into Cardiff, Cinderella couldn’t be further from her thoughts. Painfully divorced, she’s all out of daydreams - and it’s not a glass slipper, after all. 
 
It’s picked up, however, by a Prince Charming of sorts – DJ Jack Valentine, who’s just been divorced too. He appeals on his show for the owner to come forward; a  latterday princess being just what he needs…
 
Hope works as a publicist for the charity, Heartbeat, and is encouraged by her boss to get Jack on board. A celebrity endorsement is exactly what they’re after, to raise the profile of their upcoming fun run.
 
So far, so good; a fairytale beginning – their mutual attraction’s just too strong to ignore. But this is the real world, and these are two damaged people. With both of them determined not to risk another heartbreak, is a happy-ever-after an impossible dream? 

insight | chapter one 

Wild About Harry - September 2005 

 Winner of the Bedfordshire Book of the Year Award 2006

Headteacher Holly Connors is pinching herself. Dream job, dream life and the dreamiest fiancé (her wedding to whom is now mere months away). But dreamers often find themselves rudely awakened,  and Holly is – by one tousle-haired pupil, Harry Meadows, who’s been being going off the rails since his mum died last year. Holly knows he’s hurting and she knows about loss, so before she can say the words ‘professional detachment’, she’s made the ten year old’s happiness her number one project, despite  knowing it’ll disturb a few ghosts of her own.
 
It’s easier to understand the child if you take a good look at the parent, and Harry’s dad, Will, seems more feckless than most. He’s grieving too, if he’d only admit it, but seems determined to deal with his loss by himself. Mostly, it seems, by disappearing off to work, leaving Harry with a string of Au Pairs.  
 
Despite Will’s insistence that it’s none of her business, Holly’s sense of responsibility towards Harry means she can’t just walk away. But when professional detachment turns into emotional investment, Holly begins to worry. Is this just about Harry? Or should she be taking a closer look at herself?
 
'Terrific' -  Bella magazine
 
'Such a lovely tale of bereavement and tender understanding, lightly handled in a charming, flowing, witty style'  - Sarah Broadhurst, Lovereading.co.uk
Wild about Harry is also available as a large print title, and as an audio book. See Shop for more details.

 

insight | chapter one

Straight On Till Morning - April 2004

'It was then that it struck me, with terrifying clarity. I was going to die at any moment. I was going to die, moreover, in a pair of tartan pyjamas and a grubby black cardigan. For whatever was attached to the headlights in front of me was driving on my side of the road....'

So begins Sally Matthews' date with destiny. She doesn't actually believe in destiny, of course - she's way too busy looking after her husband, arranging her step-daughter's wedding, and humouring her mum-on-a-mission (which involves Tony Blair). No surprise, then, that she's out late at night to pick up her teenage daughter with nothing but a dog and a cricket bat for company. In short, Sally hasn't time for a near-death experience. However handsome the man about to run her off the road...

'Will have you glued to its pages' - OK magazine

'A really good read' - Woman magazine

insight | chapter one

A new edition of Straight on Till Morning

was published in Jan 2007

One Day, Someday - January 2003 

Can one day change your life? For Lu Fisher, ex-french teacher and fraught single mother, one day is pretty much like another: typing, translating, making endless cups of coffee...oh, and daydreaming about finally giving up her dull temp job and going back to collegeand her first love, studying art. Nights, however, are quite a different matter. PArticularly those that involve the delectable Stefan, who tutors the local evening class on impressionist painters, and who is making a serious impression on Lu.
But one day is about to change her life. The day on which her irascible boss, Joe Delaney, breaks his arm in an accident and writes off her car. He's sorry, of course, and yes, he'll get her a new one, but in the meantinme she needs transport and he needs a chauffeur. Simple, he says. She can drive his car instead. No matter that his Jaguar costs more than her house. Or, indeed, that Lu knows he'll drive her up the wall..
One Day, Someday is a clever, funny novel about that time in a woman's life when dreams begin fading and princes - handsome or otherwise - are getting thin on the ground. Lu's always rather hoped that hers would show up someday - trouble is, that someday has been so long in coming, she's not altogether sure she'd even spot him if he did...

'An absolute joy to read' - Jill Mansell

'A sassy comedy of romantic errors' - Cosmopolitan magazine 

One Day Someday is also published in large print format.

insight | chapter one

Virtual Strangers - August 2001

Fed up, frustrated and fast approaching forty, Charlie Simpson hasn't had many high points in her life just lately. The only peak on the horizon is her ambition to climb Everest, if she could only get organised and save up the cash.
Unfortunately, though, she has more pressing things to deal with; her eldest son moving out, her father moving in, and her best friend moving two hundred miles away. She finds solace, however, via her newly acquired modem, when she stumbles upon a stranger who's a like-minded soul. Like-minded, perhaps, but no fantasy dream date. Though virtual, he's of the real-life variety - he may be a hero, but he has a wife.
Charlie hasn't got a husband, but she certainly has principles, and they're about to be hauled up a mountain themselves. And, of course, her mum's always said she shouldn't talk to strangers. The question is, is now the time to start breaking the rules?

'A charming and optimistic novel about modern love' - Hello Magazine

'A laugh out loud read' - Real magazine

insight | chapter one

A new edition of Virtual Strangers will be

published in February 2008

Julia Gets a Life - August 2000

Forget all that stuff about finding the inner child; it's sexual healing Julia Potter is after when husband Richard strays from the marital bed. The one he's been playing in belongs to Rhiannon (North Cardiff single mum, siren and witch). He's sorry, or so reads his Post-it apology, but, as he says, 'Its so hard being a man...'
But Julia's not ready to forgive or take up handicrafts quite yet. Re-styled, re-vamped and re-acquainted with hair gel, her new mission statement is 'Up'. Unfortunate, then, that where sex is concerned, the only 'up' she can manage is up the wrong tree.
But at least Julia's photographic career is back in focus. And it isn't long befor she's swoppingher teletubbies and tripod at Cardiff's Time Of Your Life Photo Studio for the slinkier lines of a low-slung black pentax - the better to zoom in on the more mature torsos of Kite, Britain's megastar number on band. But while Julia's finding out who put the 'Mmm...' into mega, has her marriage to Richard gone into freefall?

'Wonderfully funny and inspiring - I enjoyed it hugely' - Judy Astley

'A fantastic book that will have you hooked from the first page' - New Woman magazine

insight | chapter one

Julia, too, has had a makeover. The new edition was published in April 2007.