Marjorie Hardy has three assets - brains, courage and beauty - but this isn't nearly enough, she discovers, when she falls in love with Robert MacLaren, heir to a Scottish whiskey empire. Her family is poor and her accent and upbringing are totally wrong for Robert's calculating stepmother. Finding herself alone and pregnant after a final summer fling with Robert in Corsica, Marjorie decides to keep the baby and fight for her daughter's rightful inheritance of the famous Glentirran estates. From her humble position in a local typing pool, she wonders how she will ever succeed. Marjorie's dream sets her off on the long, tough road of business, from selling advertising space to co-ownership of a highly successful publishing company. She finds happiness with Hamish Cameron, the chairman of a rival distillery, but in life's game of Snakes and Ladders, Marjorie is soon thrown undeservedly back into the mire. Eventually she throws a six and gets her foot on the ladder to success. Fired by the need for revenge she reaches the top, but the price she must pay is a high one...In SNAKES AND LADDERS, Madge Swindells tells a fascinating story of a woman's intense love for her daughter and her first lover, and of her search for her true self.

Marge Swindells draws on her knowledge of South Africa- where she lives- to add colour to a novel which skips between business, passion, adventure and takes Nina on a heart-rending journey from Cape Town to Sarajevo, Monaco to Moscow. HUDDERSFIELD DAILY EXAMINER

Madge Swindells lives near Cape Town. Before becoming a successful novelist she was a business woman, journalist and gem dealer.