Madeleine Wickham Books

LOOKING FOR LOVE-IN THE OBITUARIES? A survivor from the school of hard knocks, beautiful Fleur Daxeny knows the best place to meet a rich widower is--at his wife's funeral. Her modus operandi is to gatecrash the service and charm her way into the widower's life, his bed, and his bank account. Then she meets and dazzles multimillionaire golfer Richard Favour. This time the relationship doesn't go quite as Fleur plans after she moves into his mansion and joins his Golf Club community. She's soon entangled in Richard's family and genuinely losing her heart.But she's not the only fortune hunter trying to fleece Richard out of his money. And Fleur, with her expertise at spotting a scam, has a chance to become a real heroine and the woman of Richard's dreams......if her own past doesn't come rolling into the picture first.AUTHORBIO: MADELEINE WICKHAM was born in London in 1969. She was educated at King's College in London and has worked in journalism, most recently writing for Resident Abroad, The Financial Times (London) expatriate magazine. Her previous novels include The Tennis Party, A Desirable Residence, and Swimming Pool Sunday.

Chloe needs a holiday. She's sick of making wedding dresses, her partner Philip has troubles at work, the whole family wants a break. Her wealthy friend Gerard has offered the loan of his luxury villa in Spain - perfect.Hugh is not a happy man. His immaculate wife Amanda seems more interested in her new kitchen than in him, and he works so hard to pay for it, he barely has time for his children. Maybe he'll have a chance to bond with them on holiday. His old friend Gerard has lent them a luxury villa in Spain - perfect.Both families arrive at the villa and realise the awful truth - Gerard has double-booked. What no-one else realises is that Chloe and Hugh have a history, and as tensions rise within the two families, old passions resurface. It seems that Gerard's 'accidental' double booking may not be an accident after all...

Fleur is beautiful but lazy and, at forty, spends her life looking for rich men who can provide her and her teenage daughter with a glamorous and effortless existence. A daily trawl through the court pages of The Times provides her with an unusual but fertile search area - the funerals and memorial services of the great and good, where gatecrashers are so much less noticeable than they would be at a wedding or a christening. It is at one of these sad but oddly festive occasions that she meets Richard, dull but well-off, whose mousey wife has died after a lifetime of enjoyable ill-health. Before long Fleur has become an integral part of Richard's life, offending his friends, interfering in his leisure pursuits (golf bores her, so why should he spend so much time on it?) and stirring up his grown-up children to behave badly.

Rebecca Bloomwood is now happily married to Luke Brandon, and all her problems seem to be at an end. But suddenly into her life steps ... a sister, of whose existence Becky had hitherto been completely unaware. Becky is only too anxious to welcome her into the bosom of the family. But there is only one snag - she Hates shopping. She is the antithesis of the shopaholic. It all makes for some very difficult family relationships ...

TV financial guru Becky Bloomwood has finally paid off her debts and credit card bills, until her boyfriend, Luke, invites her to accompany him when he moves to New York, and she discovers sample sales, power lunches, and Fifth Avenue.

When her old boyfriend Ben reappears and reminds her of their pact to get married if they were both still single at thirty, Lottie jumps at the chance. But not everyone is thrilled with Lottie and Ben's rushed marriage, and family and friends are determined to intervene. Will Lottie and Ben have a wedding night to remember ... or one to forget?

At the age of eighteen, in that first golden Oxford summer, Milly was up for anything, and that included marrying her American friend Allan, so he could stay in the country with his lover Rupert.

Three women, smart and successful, working in the fast and furious world of magazines, meet for cocktails and gossip once a month. Roxanne: glamorous, self-confident, with a secret lover - and hoping that one day he will leave his wife and marry her. Maggie:capable and high-achieving, until she finds the one thing she can't cope with - motherhood. Candice:honest, decent, or so she believes - until a ghost from her past turns up, and almost ruins her life. A chance encounter in the cocktail bar sets in train an extraordinary set of events which upsets all their lives and almost destroys their friendship...

After being together for ten years, Sylvie and Dan have all the trimmings of a happy life and marriage. However, a trip to the doctor projects they will live another 68 years together and panic sets in. They never expected "until death do us part" to mean seven decades. In the name of marriage survival, they quickly concoct a plan to keep their relationship fresh and exciting. But in their pursuit to execute Project Surprise Me, mishaps arise and secrets are uncovered that start to threaten the very foundation of their unshakable bond. When a scandal from the past is revealed that question some important untold truths, they begin to wonder if they ever really knew each other after all.

Realtor Marcus Witherstone knew the perfect tenants from London who would rent Liz and Jonathan Chambers old house: a glamorous PR girl, Ginny, and her almost-famous husband, Piers. But soon Liz is lost in blissful dreams of Marcus, Jonathan is left to run their business, and neither of them has time to notice that their teenage daughter is developing an unhealthy passion for the tenants.