LISA ARMSTRONG

Struggling for air in a Darwinian shark pond at work and a house that is falling to pieces around her ears, single mother Cat McGinty dreams of a new job, a new home and a new life of rural bliss. Jess, her unpredictable, sexually hyperactive au pair and Lily, her ten- going on seventeen- year-old daughter would quite like to come with her. When Cat unexpectedly inherits a run down health farm in the glorious Dorset countryside, miles from memories of her feckless ex and the demands of her disapproving feminist mother, it seems their prayers have been answered. Unfortunately Butely is damper than the English channel, its patients tighter than a bad facelift and she has to share its ownership with a reclusive stranger who looks at Cat as if she were a particularly nasty strain of foot and mouth. But Cat can never resist a challenge, especially when Toby Marks, the world`s Most Handsome Man, is the one offering it. And that`s just the start of her problems.

Sydney and Charlie have the perfect marriage. They must have because everyone keeps telling them so. In fact, Sydney's whole life is sussed. Two adorable(ish) children, one adoring(ish) husband, one nanny, one cleaner, one lovely house. And latterly a glamorous job, albeit part time and quite possibly nepotistically come by. What's not to be ecstatic about? And then a new couple move in across the road: a very perfect, impeccable, tiny stranger with a Gwyneth Paltrow accent, and a man Sydney hasn't seen since she was 20. Sydney has never admitted to herself that Dylan broke her heart. But when she sees him again she begins to wonder...

Kate and Martha are sisters, one a journalist, the other a fashion person. Martha starts off on a local London radio, working for a female shock jock, hating it and determined to find a proper job. Kate works on a fashion magazine, but is always finding herself sidetracked to Portobello Market in search of the perfect teapot, or lamp, or cushion. | | But when Kate finds that a lease on the world's most delightful Notting Hill shop is up for grabs, and Martha gets a much longed for post as a war reporter, they both discover that life isn't happy ever after just because you've got the one thing you always wanted . . .