How do you deal with the end of a marriage when you are the partner who is left in the lurch? This is what happens to Ursula but, beyond the heartbreak, she must deal with the break up of the relationship being played out endlessly in the tabloids. Ursula's story opens on the day of her ex-husband William's wedding. The press are on the phone to her at six in the morning, asking her to share her innermost feelings. 'No comment', is all she can manage.

Her three children, particularly the two youngest, cannot restrain their excitement. After all, it isn't every day that their father marries a government minister and the Prime Minister and half the Cabinet are invited. But Ursula, herself embarked on a shaky new affair with a local man, sees how hard their daughter Jessie has taken the shake-up. Her father's secret favourite, she has put up walls, closed doors. But are these defences strong enough to protect a ten-year-old child?

Sandra Howard has quickly established herself as a highly successful commercial novelist. Married to the former leader of the Conservative Party, Michael Howard, she was also, in the l960s, one of the UK's leading fashion models. Sandra lives in London and in Kent.