Madeleine Wickham – författare

It was Patrick's idea that they should have the tennis party. After all, he has the perfect setting - the White House, bought out of his bonuses as an investment banker. He hasn't actually told Caroline, his brash and beautiful wife, what the real reason for the party is. She is glad to welcome Stephen and Annie, their impoverished former neighbours, less glad to see newly wealthy Charles and his aristocratic wife Cressida, and barely able to tolerate the deadly competitive Don and Valerie.But as the first ball is served over the net it signals the start of two days of tempers, shocks, revelations, the arrival of an uninvited guest, and the realization that the weekend is about anything but tennis.

Liz and Jonathan are in trouble. They can't sell their old house.Here they are, stuck with two mortgages, mounting debts and a miserable adolescent daughter who hadn't wanted to move anyway. Then it seems Marcus Witherstone will solve all their problems. He knows the perfect tenants from London who will rent their old house - glamorous PR girl Ginny and almost-famous Piers. Everything is going to be OK.Or is it? As Marcus starts to become involved with Liz, while her teenage daughter develops a passion for the lodgers, it seems that some deceptions are too close to home...Everybody loves Sophie Kinsella:"I almost cried with laughter" Daily Mail"Hilarious . . . you'll laugh and gasp on every page" Jenny Colgan"Properly mood-altering . . . funny, fast and farcical. I loved it" Jojo Moyes"A superb tale. Five stars!" Heat

The perfect summer read from the international bestselling author of the Shopaholic novels.On a shimmeringly hot Sunday in May, Louise is at a neighbour's pool with her daughters - and glaring at her resentfully is her estranged husband Barnaby. While the children splash and shriek in the cool blue waters, she lies blissfully back in the sun and dreams of Cassian, the charismatic new lawyer in her life. The day seems perfect. But suddenly the bliss is shattered. The consequences of a terrible accident develop into a drama of recriminations, jealousy and legal power-play. Friendships crumble, the village is split, and the needs of a child become secondary to the dangerous contest in which the grown-ups are engaged.

Fleur is beautiful, unscrupulous, and has a large wardrobe of black designer suits. With the help of The Times announcements page she gatecrashes the funerals and memorial services of the wealthy, preying on rich, vulnerable men. She charms her way into their lives and onto their platinum credit cards, takes what she can, and then moves swiftly on.When Richard, a dull but wealthy businessman, meets Fleur at his wife's memorial service, he's bowled over. Gradually Fleur works her spell on Richard's family - transforming their lives while she moves in on their wealth. But she finds herself lingering longer than she meant to ...

At eighteen, Milly was up for anything. So when a friend asked her to marry him just so that he could stay in England, she didn't hesitate. To make it seem real she dressed up in wedding finery and posed on the steps of the registry office for photographs.Now, ten years later, Milly is a very different person. Engaged to Simon - who is good-looking, wealthy and adores her - she is about to have the biggest and most elaborate wedding imaginable, all masterminded by her mother. Nobody knows about her first marriage, so it's almost as though it never happened - isn't it?But with only four days to go, it looks as though Milly's past is going to catch up with her. Can she sort things out before her fairytale wedding collapses around her? How can she tell Simon? And worse still, how can she tell her mother ...?

Three women, smart and successful, working in the fast and furious world of magazines, meet for cocktails and gossip once a month.Roxanne: glamorous, self-confident, with a secret lover - and hoping that one day he will leave his wife and marry her.Maggie:capable and high-achieving, until she finds the one thing she can't cope with - motherhood.Candice:honest, decent, or so she believes - until a ghost from her past turns up, and almost ruins her life.A chance encounter in the cocktail bar sets in train an extraordinary set of events which upsets all their lives and almost destroys their friendship...

Chloe needs a holiday. She's sick of making wedding dresses and her partner is having trouble at work. Her wealthy friend Gerard has offered the loan of his luxury villa in Spain - perfect.Hugh is not a happy man. His immaculate wife seems more interested in the granite for the new kitchen than in him, and he works so hard to pay for it all, he barely has time to see their children. But his old schoolfriend Gerard has lent them a luxury villa in Spain - perfect.Both families arrive at the villa and get a shock: Gerard has double-booked. An uneasy week of sharing begins, and tensions soon mount in the soaring heat. But there's also a secret history between the families - and as tempers fray, an old passion begins to resurface...