While Ally has four children and a cozy home life, Miranda is child-free, married to a millionaire, and living in an astounding show home. Ally gave up trying to compete years ago, so she is shocked when Miranda asks her if she will help provide the one thing that is missing from her perfect life: a baby. Ally has every sympathy for Miranda's infertility problems, but she wonders if she can have a baby and hand it over to someone else, even if that person is her own sister.

    But is their breeding sufficient to allow them to rise above their changed circumstance or deep down are they really just like everyone else?

    Published 20 years ago, this sequence of poems charts the progress of a love affair from the passionate honeymoon with the milk bottles turning to cheese on the doorstep, through the stage of quarrels, jealousy, recriminations and boredom, to the point where love is as nice as a cup of tea in bed.

    She's looking forward to a fresh start and a simple life. Then she bumps into the man who shares her awful secret, and things fall apart. The only way to fix things is to confess to the terrible mistake she made.

    He was soon to discover, however, that all the real drama was taking place off-stage ... Maria, trapped in a loveless marriage to an older man, makes an appalling discovery. If pushed, she knows she will do whatever it takes to protect her vulnerable son, Pat. But will she find the strength to do the one thing that would save them both? Her sister Ellen, scarred after a tragic motorbike accident, seeks comfort where she can find it. Will she finally come to terms with what happened . . . and, perhaps, open her heart to love again? Handsome, charming Robert glides through life. When Caroline threatens to take his sons away from him, however, he realises that everything he ever wanted was right under his nose. But is it too late? As the weeks pass, the cast members of Death by Dying are brought together and their lives intertwine. And, as opening night draws near, they learn that in life there's no such thing as a dress rehearsal.

    Then another woman with the same name moves into her Manhattan apartment building...a Nancy Stern who lives in the penthouse...A Nancy Stern who's blond and leggy and has a stable of boyfriends...a Nancy Stern who interviews celebrities for glossy magazines. Now Nursery School Nancy is deluged with mail and phone calls and deliveries of flowers - all meant for the Glamorous Nancy. It's all too much to bear - until a man calls one night, intending to ask the other Nancy on a blind date. What follows is a raucous and romantic tale involving mix-ups, mistaken identity, and murder...

    Can she kick it and win back the love of her husband? Patrice, wealthy but damaged, wants another baby, but husband Jonty isn't interested in sex. Is it her imagination, or is he getting too close to the husband of one of her new friends? Carmen is living dangerously, determined to get pregnant by her cold, treacherous boyfriend. She doesn't see what is under her nose until it's nearly too late. Suzanne adores her sexy second husband, but is she neglecting him for her job? And has she realized what is happening to her teenage daughter? New best friends. Their friendship is about to be tested to the limit.

    Their greatest fear is each other. But there's no point taking sides because, as they are about to find out, there are just too many.The Ex: She managed to keep her divorce amicable by burying past hurts. It cost her dear, but it's worth it to see her three daughters so happy. Now everything is going to change. Jimmy wants to remarry. Bea worries about how the girls are going to feel having to share their father. But it's not the children's reaction that shocks her- it's hers.The Girlfriend: The only thing she's done wrong is fall in love with a man she can't call her own. His daughters come first. No matter what. Try as she might, she can't seem to get them to like her. She doesn't understand. The divorce wasn't her fault. Jimmy swears it was no one's fault, some relationships just break down. But if that's the case, how secure is hers?

    Although she's little more than a child the events of her past have forged a driving determination to rise above her beginnings. But when she applies for a job as a nurse Connie's turned down: her mother was forced by poverty to work the streets and the Bell name is tainted. Bitterly hurt but undaunted, Connie's soon assistant housekeeper at the Grand Hotel and saving hard for her own business. When her path crosses Dan Stewart's, though, everything Connie's ever dreamed of is threatened. There's a dark and terrible history between the Bells and the Stewarts, and Dan's mother Edith will do anything to keep Dan and Connie apart.

    In the garden is Lady Pamela's last loyal retainer, out at grass is her one remaining racehorse, and in London is the man she should have married - still her dearest friend.Maeve Delaney, streetwise and outrageous, and sole applicant for the job of companion to Lady Pamela, bursts into the old house like a firework. As open warfare settles into an wary truce between the two women, Maeve sets her heart on bringing the great racehorse, Irish Dancer, out of retirement, and everything changes.

    There goes the motherhood . . .

    Until her world is thrown into disarray when husband Ben's business collapses overnight, taking their house and savings with it. Suddenly Amy finds herself the breadwinner. Can she rise to the challenge? Will her marriage survive such an upheaval? Or is it a case of 'Till Debt Do Us Part'? Kate has always had to struggle by, juggling her job with two children and a husband, though she wouldn't have it any other way. But her safe little world is rocked when she meets enigmatic Jack in a chance encounter. Feeling increasingly estranged from husband Miles, Kate wonders if Jack can offer her a fresh start. But there's something about Jack that Kate doesn't know. . . Jennifer is only just beginning to recover from the death of her own husband. When Jennifer makes contact with old flame Hugh she unlocks a dangerous Pandora's box. She is desperate to find the answer to a question that has tormented her for decades. But will she be able to cope with the truth?

    

    Perfect for readers of Catherine Alliott and Marian Keyes. What would you do if you discovered you were living a lie? When a shocking news report shatters Juno Ryan's world, she suddenly finds herself without the man she loves - and with no way of getting the answers she so desperately needs.A distraught Juno flees to the enchanting Villa Naranja in Spain. The blue skies and bountiful orange groves - along with Pep, the winemaker's handsome son - begin to soothe her broken heart, but only Juno herself can mend it.Just when she begins to feel whole again another bombshell falls. Can Juno put the past behind her? And will she ever learn to trust herself again?

    Have you done your TEETH? HAIR? SHOES? Come on, come on, come on, we're going to be bastarding late again. No, I haven't seen Lego Optimus Prime, and nor do I give a shit about his whereabouts. Sam, will you stop winding your sister up and take this model of the Shard that I painstakingly sat up and created for you last night so that I wouldn't be in trouble with your teacher. I mean, so that you wouldn't be in trouble with your teacher. No, it doesn't smell of 'dirty wine'. Well, maybe it does a little bit. Look, Sam, I haven't got time to argue. Just hold your nose and get in the car, okay? AVA! TEETH! HAIR! SHOES!" Gemma is only just holding it together - she's a single parent, she's turning 40 and her seven-year-old daughter has drawn a cruelly accurate picture which locates Gemma's boobs somewhere around her knees. So when her new next-door neighbour, Becky, suggests that Gemma should start dating again, it takes a lot of self-control not to laugh in her face. But Becky is very persuasive and before long Gemma finds herself juggling a full-time job, the increasingly insane demands of the school mums' Facebook group and the tricky etiquette of a new dating world. Not only that, but Gemma has to manage her attraction to her daughter's teacher, Tom, who has swapped his life in the City for teaching thirty six to seven year olds spelling, grammar, basic fractions - and why it's not ok to call your classmate a stinky poo-bum...It's going to be a long year - and one in which Gemma and Becky will learn a really crucial lesson: that in the end, being a good parent is just about being good enough.