The Hidden Cottage

By ERICA JAMES

Published by Hachette New Zealand, 1 December 2012 $34.99 RRP

Family life for Mia Channing has always been a carefully orchestrated balancing act. Her husband, Jeff, sees himself as the Larger than Life Patriarch and has always assigned their grown up children very specific roles. Jensen, the eldest, is the Unlovable Awkward One; Eliza, the Distant Smart One; and Daisy, the baby of the family, is the Special One. Mia's own role is that of Devoted Wife and Mediator.

When Jensen makes a rare visit home to the village of Little Pelham to celebrate his thirtieth birthday, he brings with him his latest girlfriend and her daughter in tow, his sister Daisy seizes the opportunity to drop the bombshell that she's moving to Australia. It's an evening that marks a turning point in all their lives…

Meanwhile yet more change is in the air with the arrival in Little Pelham of wealthy, divorced Owen Fletcher. His return to live in The Hidden Cottage, a place that holds special memories for him, forces Mia to confront the role she's played all these years and to take the risk, finally, of being true to herself.

About the Author

Erica James' insatiable appetite for other people's business compels her to readily strike up conversation with strangers in the hope of unearthing a useful gem for her writing. She finds it the best way to write authentic characters for her novels, although her two grown-up sons claim they will never recover from a childhood spent in a perpetual state of embarrassment at their mother's compulsion. Erica now divides her time between Cheshire and Lake Como in Italy, where she strikes up conversation with unsuspecting Italians.