'You've gone all fat and complacent because you've got your man, haven't you?' This outrageous suggestion is met with indignation from Polly Penhalligan, recently married, trying for a baby and blissfully happy in her beautiful manor farmhouse in Cornwall. At least, she was, until she is forced to realise that her idyllic life of gorging on chocolate biscuits, counting her endless blessings and not getting dressed until lunchtime could be having a few unwelcome side effects. So Polly decides to razz things up a bit - and agrees to allow her home to be used as a location for an advert. Having a glamorous film crew around should certainly put something of a bomb under rural life, shouldn't it? But even before the cameras have been set up, Polly's marriage has been turned upside down. This time, it seems, she's gone too far...

Catherine Alliott worked in London as a copywriter in advertising. She now lives in Hertfordshire with her husband, a barrister, and their three children.