Lesley Lokko – författare

Three girls in search of a missing piece of their lives; three girls who will change their worlds to find it . . .''A sexy, sophisticated page-turner'' EVE''A blockbuster with brains ... the ultimate guilty pleasure'' BELLA''Sheer indulgence'' DAILY EXPRESSLaure, seventeen, beautiful and already abandoned twice in her young life. Once by the glamorous mother she can barely remember, a woman who brought shame on the St Lazare family name and fled to America; and then again by a handsome soldier who left her pregnant and alone, facing the wrath of her grandmother.Amelie, caught in a world where she''s neither servant nor mistress, trapped between the St Lazare family she''s always worked for and the simmering hostility of a country on the verge of meltdown. With a past she knows nothing about and no family of her own, she yearns to find a place that can be home.Melanie, the rock star''s daughter who has everything money can buy except the love she craves. A daddy''s girl caught in a whirl of damaging relationships, testing those closest to her. In one man she sees the chance to change her life for ever, but at what price?In a story that begins in the relentless heat of a Haitian summer and sweeps through the luxury of America''s elite to the colourful chaos of East End London, BITTER CHOCOLATE is a glorious tale of the quest for love, marriage and finding a place to belong.

Friendship, ambition, betrayal - the brilliant novel from the author of BITTER CHOCOLATE.Nic, Caryn and Tory: three girls who form a friendship that should last a lifetime. Nic is the daughter of a white Zimbabwean business tycoon. Despite a life of jaw-dropping wealth and privilege, all she really wants is a bit of attention from daddy. Caryn never met her father - but growing up on a tough London sink estate, she had other things to worry about. Like getting out and moving on. Tory just yearns for some space to be herself. Living in the shadow of your dead sister is tough, particularly when she seemed to be everything you''re not. Then beautiful, ruthless Estelle McKenzie appears on the scene. Estelle has a secret - and one way or another, she''s going to make each woman pay a very high price for it.

''A very 21st Century blockbuster, this has all the classic elements - nailbiting narrative, absorbing relationships, glamorous locations - with an extra shot of intelligence'' COSMOPOLITAN''Best described as a sort of Blockbuster Plus - in this case plus a little bit more intelligence and social and political grip than is normal . . . Agreeably glamorous and pageturning'' DAILY MAILTake four friends... Rianne: beautiful, wealthy and thoroughly spoilt, she has the world at her feet but is about to risk everything. Gabrielle: intelligent, loyal and always worrying about everyone else, now it''s time for her to start looking after No.1. Nathalie: petite, pretty and with a shrewd eye for business, she uses her work to help her forget the one man she can''t have. Charmaine: flirty and outrageous, she knows all about the good life. She just needs someone to pay for it... Then a chance encounter changes everything - and for Rianne and her friends, nothing is going to be the same again...

''With five decades of family feuds, sibling rivalry and love affairs . . . an exciting, intelligent blockbuster'' EVE''This is everything you''d expect of a blockbuster - glamorous locations, ambitious female protagonists and a singing, gliding narrative - but with a little more intelligence'' GLAMOUR''Love, sex, adventure, glamour. What more could you ask for?'' DAILY EXPRESSMAX SALL, powerful, wealthy and utterly ruthless, a man without a past ... His wife, ANGELA, a society debutante who fell in love with the dark, handsome stranger, and broke her parents'' hearts when she married him ... His mistress, FRANCESCA, the glamorous air stewardess, who saw in Max her ticket out of the Italian provinces and grabbed it - and him - with both hands ... And his daughters: AMBER, more like her father than she''ll ever know, smart, shrewd and determined to achieve, whatever the cost; and PAOLA, groomed by her mother to succeed where she failed, in getting a man to marry her. Max''s women are very different, but they all demand his attention. While Amber and Paola are growing up in the 1970s, their mothers somehow find a way to share Max between them. But when Amber and Paola fall in love with the same man two decades later, they''re determined that this time there will be no sharing...

''Very exciting from start to finish. It''s well-written, engaging and fast-paced, with a plot you''ll be gripped by. ... I couldn''t put it down'' DAILY MAILIn the perfect family, there''s a thin line between love and hate, especially when there''s so much to hide... The Keelers are one of those families that seem to have everything. Glamorous, wealthy and privileged, life has always been easy for them, on the outside at least. But even the happiest of families have their secrets. Maddie, the scatty American actress, is swept off her fee by Rafe Keeler. A brilliantly talented surgeon, Rafe is handsome, steady and dependable - everything Maddie has sought in a man. So why does she feel so dangerously adrift? Julia loathed Aaron Keeler on sight when they met at Oxford. She was a working-class girl, he was the privileged posh boy handed everything on a plate. But a lethal attraction has set them on a collision course.Niela has been running all her life. Betrayed and abandoned by her own family, her whirlwind marriage to Josh Keeler has given her a place to call ''home''. But Niela knows how easily the past can come back to ruin your life...

No matter who you are, love comes at a price...

''Perfect for a lengthy spot of tanning ... immerse yourself in the lives of four women looking for love'' GRAZIA

''Best-selling author Lesley Lokko is back with a book that will have you on the edge of your seat'' PRIDE

Sam, the ugly duckling who grew into a swan. Now beautiful and wealthy, with a glittering career, no one can understand why she''s still on her own. When she meets a handsome stranger on holiday, things finally seem to be falling into place...

Meaghan, a true survivor. The teenage runaway who worked her way off the streets, she was swept off her feet by a young army officer, to live on the other side of the world, finally escaping the family she loathed...

Dani, the beautiful misfit, desperately looking for daddy in all the wrong places, and finding instead a man who will teach her everything that is wrong and corrupt about love.

And Abby, the model wife, everything her husband and family could want and more, but never being herself. Until a dark secret threatens to pull her well-ordered life apart.

Sometimes you can''t escape your past...Secrets and glamour from the bestselling author of A PRIVATE AFFAIR and SOUL SISTERS''A glam-packed, thrilling read'' GRAZIA''An epic, handbag-stretching tome packed with love, secrets, lies and glamour'' HEATKnown as ''The Ice Queen'', Anneliese Zander de St Phalle is one of the world''s most celebrated fashion designers. With an empire that stretches across continents, she''s a truly global brand, in every sense. Yet despite her success, she''s a mystery; a reclusive disciplined perfectionist who rarely grants interviews. She''s successful and she''s talented, and that''s all anyone needs to know. Anneliese never talks about her past - not even to her only daughter, Callan. She''s worked hard to leave it all behind her and it''s a time and place to which Anneliese will never return. Or so she thinks. At an exclusive New Year''s Eve party at her glamorous island hideaway, a woman appears whom Anneliese has done her best to forget. On the cusp of her retirement, at the height of Anneliese'' fame, the stranger brings a story that demands to be told. To Anneliese''s horror, the past cannot be left behind; it is here, part and parcel of the present, despite everything she''s done to forget it...

Five stories of secrets, love and friendship from the bestselling author of A PRIVATE AFFAIR.Comprises: SUNDOWNERSSAFFRON SKIESBITTER CHOCOLATERICH GIRL, POOR GIRLONE SECRET SUMMER.

The glorious novel from the bestselling Lesley Lokko; an epic tale of three women whose lives interweave over decades.In a beachfront mansion in Martha''s Vineyard, Annick and Rebecca relax, safe in the knowledge that their young children are in the care of life-long friend Tash. But by the end of the afternoon, one of the children will have vanished...Annick, daughter of an actress and an assassinated president, has spent her life running from the truth of her family''s wealth. Rebecca has always done the right thing. Perfect daughter. Perfect wife. Perfect mother. She''s beginning to wonder if she''ll ever get chance to live for herself. And Tash, free from the poverty of her heritage, has the world at her feet. So why is she struggling to keep a grip on her life?This is the sweeping story of three very different women; their pasts, their secrets, and their friendship.

Full of danger, secrets and lies, the dazzling novel from bestselling author, Lesley Lokko.''What''s fantastic about this book is the trademark exotic Lokko detail; luxury hotel bars in Cairo, verandas in Kenya, even grubby warzone hospitals all come vividly to life'' Wendy Holden, DAILY MAIL''My favourite writer; her books are always so deep, engrossing and glamorous'' ESSENTIALSNothing fazes Lexi Sturgis. She''s faced bullets, battles and bitter rivals to chase news stories other reporters would kill for. Living for risk and adventure, she abides by one rule: don''t let anyone get too close.Jane Marshall is feeling desperate. Her family is in disarray and her once high-flying TV career is sinking. She needs a big scoop, fast - and it seems Lexi might be the one to help.For dedicated medical student Deena, the horrors of a war-torn Egypt are too shocking to ignore. She travels across the world to offer help, leaving her younger sister shattered with worry. In a journey fraught with danger, secrets and uncertainty, these women are thrown together in an extraordinary struggle. Can they overcome the pains of their pasts and find the courage to trust each other?

A captivating family drama about sisters and long-held secrets spanning from the 1930s to the present day, perfect for fans of Downton Abbey.

1936, Chalfont Hall, Dorset.

As the dressmaker puts the last pins in her dress, thirteen-year-old Kit is wondering why she has to go through the charade of seeing her sister Lily presented at Court. With her waves of auburn hair and her piercing green eyes, Kit knows that her sister''s place on the social scene is guaranteed regardless of her dress, and as the door to a life of parties and eligible young men opens for Lily, Kit must make do with tiptoeing around the gallery of Chalfont, eavesdropping on the conversations of the grown-ups.

But the arrival of a German visitor one evening soon sets in motion a chain of events that none of the family could have anticipated. Years later, the aftershock of events will be felt by a new generation . . .