William Nicholson – författare

''Nicholson is a subtle and addictive writer who deserves to be a household name . . . [with] his remarkable eye for detail and for the weaknesses of human nature'' ObserverThis is our own familiar world rendered pacy, funny, emotionally on the button and hugely entertaining.Belinda wistfully reflects how much better at sex she is now than when she was in her twenties. She''s thought about taking a lover, but ultimately could never do that to her husband Tom. So imagine her despair when she discovers he''s having an affair... And what about Tom, and his lover Meg? It''s not easy for them either. Alongside this knot of middle-aged lovers is a tangle of younger ones, as Belinda''s flirty daughter Chloe tries to set up Jack with shy Alice, without realizing that Jack actually has a crush on her. Nicholson casts an unflinching eye on men''s attitude to sex, on women, love and family life.

She loves him. She''s happy. But could she be happier? ''Capturing humour in the small, perfectly skewered moments of everyday life, this is a story of small, largely middle-class lives enclave, made golden by the light that Nicholson shines on them'' Sunday Times''Nicholson is a subtle and addictive writer who deserves to be a household name'' Observer Maggie and Andrew are lovers who live apart - Maggie in the country, Andrew in town. When Andrew is offered a job close to Maggie, moving in with her is the obvious next step. Or is it? Is this the man she wants to spend the rest of her life with? Maggie panics. She ends their relationship, devastating Andrew. But when he turns the tables on her, she begins to see him differently. Meanwhile, Maggie''s Sussex neighbours are living through their own intense dilemmas. The stories of Maggie and other characters entwine in a continuous dance over seven golden days of high summer - a human kaleidoscope that captures how passionate yet mundane, painful yet comic our everyday lives can be.These are seven golden days of summer ... time enough for relationships to change for ever...

''So incredibly accurate and true. Utterly captures the sense of quiet desperation of ordinary lives ... and the ways in which life turns on a sixpence'' Kate Mosse

Laura is content enough with her marriage, her two children and her part-time job - until an ex-lover whom she had thought was ''the one'' gets in touch out of the blue. Suddenly passion and excitement are rekindled, and she realises how stagnant her life has become. But how much happiness has she a right to expect, and what of the pain she might cause to achieve it?

Unknown to Laura, many others in her Sussex village are living with their own unresolved inner dramas. None of them guesses at her crisis. Yet every decision they take has an impact on those around them. The hidden longings of a large cast of characters interweave in a gripping plot that reveals ordinary life at its richest: comic and tragic, poignant and cruel, surprising and moving.