Maria Barrett Book order

Three lives converge...Charles, a respected professor of History, is writing a book on a Victorian crime of passion. Lotte is unhappily married to Gordon, a bully of a man who has reduced her self esteem to an almost irretrievable low. She stays for the sake of the children, but when she finds out he has been having an affair that is no longer reason enough. Annie Taylor has been newly promoted to Detective Inspector, but has had to move from the Met to the provinces in order to get the job. She is under pressure to perform, her team are antagonistic, her personal life a mess. Then a student disappears, Claire Thompson, one of Charles' tutorial group, a loner who has problems dealing with reality. DI Taylor heads the investigation and Charles finds himself in the frame for abduction. As he tries to prove the wrongful conviction of the protagonist of his book, Charles finds himself having to prove his own innocence. One person holds the key...As Lotte strives to become her own woman and Annie Taylor struggles to prove who she is, the answer is found in a silent voice, a voice that speaks from the grave.

Firm friends from the school run to Wynchcombe Primary, Sarah, Roz and Janie each have a dream. Sarah dreams of finding a way through the constant struggle to bring up her partially deaf son, Rory, alone; Roz dreams of keeping her farm afloat; Janie, a GP's wife, dreams of escaping the ever-growing emptiness in her life that she cannot explain. Then Janie's brother Marcus, a top city analyst, suggests that they set up an investment group - pooling their money and playing the stock market together - and introduces them to his stockbroker friend, Alex. With a mixture of luck, instinct and research, the group begin to make some serious the sort of money that makes dreams come true. But good dreams can easily turn bad. When the gains are high, so are the risks...

Livvy is 31, clever, beautiful, successful and rich. She lives with James until his fatal weakness threatens her happiness. With nothing left, having lost James, her job and her flat, she turns to Fraser, the Scottish editor whose love for her has always been unrequited. She begins a new life.