Gaynor Arnold – författare

Sparkling with sympathy, style and wit, this debut collection is populated with characters looking for new life. The two desperately optimistic lovers of the title story head out on the road in the first days of release from a rehab clinic. A childless wife is drawn back into the orbit of her charismatic old flame when her best friend asks for her help. In a wartime cafe, a waitress takes a passionate interest in a bookish and haunted stranger.Stretching effortlessly from Paris to inner-city Birmingham, from the present day to the 1940s, these stories explore the daily misunderstandings and self-deceits, the secrets and lies that seep into all our lives.Gaynor Arnold brings the same empathy and social worker''s insight to Lying Together that she previously shone on the marriage of Charles Dickens in Girl in a Blue Dress. Versatile and provocative, her new collection confirms the arrival of a natural storyteller with a rich understanding of the human heart.

Beloved writer Alfred Gibson''s funeral is taking place at Westminster Abbey, and Dorothea, his wife of twenty years has not been invited. Gibson''s will favours his many children and secret mistress over Dorothea - who was sent away from the family home when their youngest was still an infant. Dorothea has not left her apartment in years, but when she receives a surprise invitation to a private audience with Queen Victoria, she is shocked to find she has much in common with Her Highness. With renewed confidence Dorothea is spurred to examine her past and confront not only her family but the pretty young actress Miss Ricketts.