LAYING THE GHOST
Have you ever wondered what your ex is up to? Well, who hasn't? It's only human nature.
When Nell was a student, she and Patrick were a serious item. They were inseparable, and she really thought he was The One. But then things went horribly wrong. When Alex came along he was the safer, more restful option, and thanks, in part, to her over-controlling mother Nell opted for him instead. Now, years on, nothing is going right. Alex has left her to live in New York with a young red-headed all-American girl. Escaping to the Caribbean for a recuperative holiday with her daughter Mimi, Nell is mugged at Gatwick and her bag is stolen. It's crisis time - and she makes two decisions: First - she will take lessons in self-defence. Second - she will try and find Patrick again. Is she trying to put the past behind her- or setting out to ruin her future?
Mimi, meanwhile is doing her best to cope with her newly-single mother while making the most of being fifteen. She has her own first-love decisions to deal with and feels that her mother does not need to know about these...
This book, possibly more than any of my others, came about because of something that happened in my own life. While I was coming to the end of writing Blowing It, I had a chance meeting with someone whose name triggered a powerful "I wonder what happened to.." moment regarding one of my own former boyfriends. Encouraged by the casual ease of meeting old friends and making new ones via the internet, I Googled and searched and eventually found him, but it didn't end well - to say he was not thrilled to hear from me would be an understatement. I was possibly THAT close to an ASBO.. (Don't try this at home, folks!). This book is - of course - completely fiction; but I'm enormously grateful (if a tad bruised..) for the spark that set this book alight.