Jane Green

If you had one wish this Christmas, what would it be? Sarah wishes not to be lonely. She shouldn't be - not with Eddie, her husband, and their two children by her side ... but since Sarah waved farewell to the bright lights of the big city and moved to a picture perfect home in the country, her marriage is missing its usual sparkle. So when Eddie's job takes him away from home shortly before Christmas, the enforced break in their relationship - while tricky - probably couldn't have come at a better time. But will his absence make her heart grow fonder? And if so, for whom? As seasonal cheer begins to flow, Sarah discovers rather a lot can happen in one holiday ... especially when it's Christmas. Jane Green and her friends are delighted to bring you this enchanting trio of tales for the holiday - stories about falling headlong in love and the miracle of second chances.

When Andi married Ethan she not only got the man she loved but also the chance to be a mother, to his
daughters Emily and Sophia. Unable to have a child of her own, Andi saw this opportunity at motherhood as a
precious gift. If only it were that simple. For this is not a happy family, and the trouble lies with Emily. Her
conflicted feelings towards her stepmother leave Andi feeling hated in her own home despite years of trying to reach out to
 her stepdaughter. And with each new drama, Emily drives Andi and Ethan further apart. Just as Andi starts to contemplate a life without Ethan and the girls, Emily comes home with some shocking news. News that will change their lives forever.

Callie Perry is a successful family photographer living in upstate New York. She adores her two
daughters, has great friends, and actually doesn't mind that her workaholic husband gets home at 9 p.m.
 every night-that is, when he's not traveling six months out of the year. Callie's younger sister, Steff, on the
other hand, has never grown up. She's a free spirit, living in downtown Manhattan and bouncing between jobs and
boyfriends. Lately, she's been working as a vegan chef, even though she can't cook. Lila Grossman is Callie's best friend
and has finally met the man of her dreams. Eddie has two wonderful children, but also a drama queen ex-wife who hates Lila. And then there are Callie and Steff's parents, Walter Cutler and Honor Pitman. Divorced for thirty years, they rarely speak to each other. The lives of these colorful characters intersect when they each receive a shocking note that summons them together for one extraordinary summer in Maine and changes their lives forever. This novel is about the hard choices we have to face, about having to be your parents' child long after you've grown up, and about the enduring nature of love.

Since her divorce a year ago, Kit Hargrove feels she has finally got her life back on track. Gone is the lonely Wall Street widow she used to be, and in her place is a happier, more fulfilled woman, with a new job she loves - working for uberfamous novelist Robert McClore - a small but cosy new home with her children, andthe beginnings of a tentative friendship with her ex husband. She even has time for yoga classes with her new best friend Tracy. The only thing missing is a man. And when Tracy introduces her to Steve - charming, romantic and attentive - Kit wonders if he could be the final piece of the jigsaw. But Kit doesn't know that Tracy is hiding a secret, one that could destroy their friendship, her happiness with Steve, even her new life. Torn between suspicion and love, Kit doesn't know which way to turn. For there are some betrayals that a friendship can't survive....

One summer a group of strangers - each with their own reason for wanting to step out of their busy life - meet at rented beachouse in sunny Nantucket. There's Daniel, who's causing heartbreak for his wife Bee; recently divorced Daff, who feels she's lost touch with her daughter Jess; and Michael - son of the house's mischievous , free-spirited owner Nan - who is having an ill-advised fling with his boss. With so many lost souls gathered under one roof, very soon there are tears and laughter, friendship and - for some - even love. Each one of them is hoping for a new beginning. But will any of them find it?

Holly Macintosh is sitting round her kitchen table with her oldest friends – friends she hasn’t seen since school - now reunited by an unexpected tragedy and catching up on the past 20 years. On the surface, they are all successful and happy. But scratch a little deeper after that extra glass of wine and it’s not quite so straightforward: Paul and Anna are struggling to have a baby, Saffron the actress is still waiting for that really big break that – at 39 – is looking less and less likely, and Olivia, always the wallflower of the group, is newly single and mourning her lost love. And what about Holly Mac? Can she and her husband Marcus get their marriage back on track for the sake of the children? Or has someone just come back into her life who will change everything forever?

From the outside Vicky Townsley would appear to have it all. Features Director of the hugely successful Poise! magazine, she lives alone in London, is single and seriously successful. But she'd give it all up in a heartbeat for marriage, children, and a house in the country. Amber Winslow on the other hand, has exactly what Vicky Townsley wants; a huge stone mansion in Connecticut, children and a busy charitable commitment for the local Women's League. But Amber isn't happy either. She hasn't found quite the fulfilment she had expected from being a full-time wife and mother, so when she spots a double page spread in Poise! magazine asking married readers to life swap with a glamorous, single journalist in London, she sits down and writes a letter. But she never expects to be picked...

Ellie and Dan are living proof that opposites attract. He always follows instructions and she throws the manual away. He loves sports whereas Ellie’s allergic to any form of exercise. Ellie doesn’t have a mother. And Dan does - a mother who wants to take over … everything. At first Ellie is thrilled to have Linda as her ‘adopted’mother but when she and Dan decide to get married and wedding plans progress, she starts to wonder: is it normal for Linda and Dan to speak on the phone twice a day? How on earth do they come to be having a reception with Chilean bloody seabass and humongous bloody white ribbons tied everywhere when all she wanted was a quiet registry office? In fact, is she marrying Dan … or his mother?

Alice knows she should be happy. After all she has a handsome husband, a beautiful house and membership to all the most exclusive clubs in London. So what if the rumours about her husband's skirt-chasing are becoming harder to ignore? When Joe's indiscretions force a transfer to New York, Alice hopes it might be a fresh start. And when they find a beautiful old house in Connecticut Alice is overjoyed. For a while she and Joe seem as happy as newlyweds.

But then the late nights and unexplained absences start again. What should Alice do? Stay and fight for him? Or leave with her head held high?

Julia and Mark are stuck in a loveless relationship. Julia thinks a baby will help, but perhaps that isn't the answer to her problems. Maeve is totally allergic to commitment - she breaks out in a rash whenever she passes a buggy. Then a one-night-stand results in an unwanted pregnancy. But just how unwanted is it?

Samantha is besotted with her new-born baby. But how is husband Chris coping with his suddenly unavailable wife, and is Samantha's obsession as healthy as it seems?

Cath and Si are best friends. Total opposites, always together, and both unlucky in love. Cath is scatty, messy, and emotionally closed. Si is impossibly tidy, bitchy, and desperate for a man of his own. They live near each other in West Hampstead, close to their other best friends Josh and Lucy - who are married, with a devil-spawn child called Max and a terrifying Swedish nanny, Ingrid. When Portia steps back into their lives, - beautiful Portia, the undisputed queen of their group at university, who broke their collective hearts one night and from whom they have all gradually, silently, grown apart - her reappearance sets off a chain of events that tests them to the limit. Does Portia have a hidden agenda, or is she just looking for happy endings all round? Whatever the answers, none of them could ever predict the outcome ...

At twenty-seven, Libby thinks there's a lot to be said for a rich husband. So when Nick comes along - lovely, funny, handsome Nick, who has no money whatsoever, lives in a grotty bedsit and thinks the perfect night out consists of the pub and his mates - she decides he's only good for a fling. No strings attached.

Investment banker Ed, on the other hand, could possibly be the answer. His house in Regent's Park makes up for his hideous moustache and she can probably overlook his irritating habits, and anyway, he's crazy about her. But does Libby really know what she needs? Is she just in love with being loved? Or is she loving the lifestyle, rather than the man?

Jemima Jones is overweight. About seven stone overweight.

Treated like a slave by her thin and bitchy flatmates, lorded over at the Kilburn Herald by the beautiful Geraldine (less talented, better paid), her only consolation is food. That and a passion for her charming, sexy colleague Ben. Her life needs to change and soon.

But can Jemima reinvent herself? And should she?

This could be about your best friend. Or your girlfriend. Or it might be about you. Are you Tasha - single and still searching? Are you one of her three best friends? Andy, hooked on passion; Mel, stuck in a steady relationship with a bastard; or Emma, endlessly waiting for her other half to propose? Do you know an Andrew - suave, goodlooking and head over heels in love . . . with himself? Or a Simon - allergic to commitment and dangerously treacherous? Or an Adam - handsome, kind, humorous, but too nice to be sexy? Follow them all in their journey to find fulfilment and love.