Elaine Ellis – författare

Lara Allen seems to have it all. A linguist for the Foreign Office, she speaks five languages and has the ear of world leaders and government minsters. But there is one part of her life that leaves an ache which all her success can never fill - a daughter she gave away at nineteen after a chance encounter while waitressing in Portugal. Returning sixteen years later for her sister's hen night, Lara finds herself drawn back to that time, and to the family who hadadopted her child. After sixteen years of staying strong, she finds herself wanting to know what happened, and wanting to peek into the life of the girl she left behind. By turns funny and moving, this is a heart-warming story of families coming together, and sharing their hopes and their regrets. Filled with fascinating characters and great locations, A Summer's Child is a poignant reminder that sometimes the things we think we've lost can still be found, and in the end there is nothing like family to teach us how to live, and how to forgive.

The old proverb `The grass is always greener' turned out to be an artist's impression, not real life at all. When Charlotte Whitfield - known to everyone as Charlie - receives a letter from her best friend Libby, she has no idea that her life is about to change forever. Libby and James, Charlie's husband, have been having an affair, and James has decided to leave the marriage and move in with Libby. But if Libby and James thought that Charlie was ready to be a victim, they had forgotten the tough resourceful woman they had both known and loved. Calling on all her strength, Charlie takes control of her own life, despite losing a baby as well as a husband. When James, for whom the grass turned out not to be greener on the other side, starts to threaten Charlie his erratic behaviour turns quickly into dangerous obsession. Charlie is forced to re-evaluate everything, and find out, for the first time, what it is she truly wants. And beside her all the way is Libby's ex-husband Bruce, whose underappreciated grace and charm become a bedrock for Charlie. Are they too falling in love? Elaine Ellis's Postman's Knock is a moving story of the way life continues to surprise, and how the actions of other people, for better or worse, make us look anew at ourselves.