An outstanding novel about a woman who, at the age of thirty nine, forges a new life for herself and discovers love for the first time. Miranda Stowe seems to have everything - looks, brains, three children and a beautiful fifteenth century moated manor house in Kent. She is also the grand- daughter of Matthew Cranford, the celebrated First World War poet. When she finds her husband dead, shot in the chest, it's the verdict of her friends that Fortune has turned against one of her darlings. Miranda finds it impossible to continue with the fiction of her perfect marriage. Her husband, though handsome and clever, has throughout the 19 years of marriage been unfaithful. His death forces her to look at life afresh. She finally discovers a man who is worthy of the love she has to give and who can make her happy.

Prizes

Shortlisted for Parker Romantic Novel of the Year Award 1999.

Victoria Clayton published two children's books when in her early twenties. She then read English at Cambridge as a mature student, married and had two children before returning to writing fiction. Her previous novels, Running Wild, Dance With Me, Out of Love and Past Mischief, shortlisted for the Romantic