Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published May 2007
640 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
Martha, Clio, and Jocasta meet by chance at Heathrow airport in 1985 as they are starting off on separate backpacking adventures, and they decide to spend the first few days of their trips together in Thailand. When they go their separate ways, they vow to get together in London the following year. But many years pass before the three cross paths again, and the once-capricious, carefree girls now all have thriving careers. One of them, however, harbors a terrible secret: On her return from her pre-college excursion, she abandoned her just-born daughter at Heathrow.
"Starred Review. Although some of the male characters are too overbearing to be believed, the women are, without exception, multifaceted, smart and brave, and their happiness is hard won." - PW.
"[A]n absorbing tale rich in seductive intrigue and emotional impact. " - Booklist.
"Others might think they've read the plot before—Shirley Conran's Lace, anyone? Unfortunately, this is a pale imitation." - Library Journal.
"More compact than five seasons of soap operas, but equally brain-curdling." - Kirkus.
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Penny Vincenzi was one of the UK’s best-loved and most popular authors. Since her first novel, Old Sins, was published in 1989, she wrote fourteen bestselling novels.
Her first 'proper' job was at the Harrods Library, aged sixteen, after which she went to secretarial college. She joined the Mirror and later became a journalist, writing for The Times, the Daily Mail and Cosmopolitan among many others, before turning to fiction. At the time of her death in 2018, over seven million copies of Penny's books had been sold worldwide and she is universally held to be the 'doyenne of the modern blockbuster' (Glamour). She has four daughters, and divided her time between London and Gower, South Wales, until her death in February 2018 aged 78.
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