Mavis Cheek is an author whose works delve into the complexities of human existence with sharp wit and a keen eye for life's absurdities. Her writing often explores themes of societal conventions, personal identity, and the search for meaning in an often chaotic world. With a distinctive style that is both incisive and empathetic, Cheek captures the inner lives of her characters and the challenges they face, using language that is both humorous and poignant. Her work resonates with readers due to her unflinching look at human nature and her talent for crafting memorable narratives.
Joan's answer to life after divorce is happy seclusion. She rejects the outside world and embarks on a contented existence of isolated self- indulgence. But when she meets the roguish, desirable actor Finbar Flynn, the walls of her citadel begin to crack.
Aunt Margaret finds herself alone when her live-in niece flies the nest for a year. She decides to take a lover - strictly short term - so she advertises.
After eleven years of marriage to an egocentric opera singer, Pat Murray packs up her daughter and leaves, regaining control of her life and approaching single parenthood bravely until she meets Roland and his pregnant wife
Flora Chapman is in her fifties when her husband dies in a bizarre ballooning accident. Seizing upon her new found freedom, she decides to finish the history of their village that Edward had begun . A reference to Anne of Cleves, Henry VIII s fourth wife who he rejected for being ugly, captures Flora s imagination and she begins to delve deeper into the life of this neglected historical figure. Meanwhile, in the Louvre, Holbein s portrait of Anne of Cleves senses the tug of a connection and she begins to tell the real story of the injustices she suffered and just how she survived her marriage...
When city girl Molly Bonner arrives in the village of Lufferton Boney, she creates quite a stir. With her non-country-style boots, determined manner and alluring looks, she sets off a wave of intrigue that ripples through the lives of everyone there, from Julie the barmaid at the Holly Bush to antiques dealer Dryden Fellows and Montmorency the cat.
Angela Fytton - wonderwife, supermother, bedroom vamp and business partner - has been unceremoniously dumped. Like many a good wife before her she has been swapped by her husband for a younger model. Now, divorced but determined, she rediscovers the iron in her soul and decides to fight. She moves to the country leaving her entirely selfish teenage children with their father and his sweet new bride, and she waits. One day, she knows, her husband will return. Meanwhile she yields herself up to the notion that country life is pure and good and that country people are next to angels - and finds this is very far from the truth . . .
Sixteen-year-old Marianne's life changes when she attends a party at a genteel house, where she meets a boy who introduces her to red wine and a sense of freedom. The story follows her journey to independence through seven houses, three men, and numerous disappointments.
Nina Porter seems to have it all: husband, home, family and security. But her life turns upside down when a marital row over truthfulness sets her thinking. And when a glamorous few days of research in Venice are suddenly on offer, there seems no reason for Nina to refuse them.
Lovely home, lovely husband, lovely family: apart from the envy of her less contented sister, everything in Dilys's rags-to-riches life is lovely, lovely, lovely. Until the day she meets a man at a railway station who is also - lovely. As she hurtles towards either her destruction or her liberation she discovers that deceit is in the blueprint of our birth, that ancient Aunts have their own dark secrets, that envious sisters have their reasons. And that when Brief Encounters meet Basic Instincts, the right choice, like truth, is rarely pure and never simple. 'Streets ahead of the usual run of romantic comedy . . . she draws real, three-dimensional characters, whose motives you can understand and whose emotions you care about.' Daily Mail
Celia, housewife, mother and wonderful cook, is celebrating her fortieth birthday. But the house of cards collapses around her, as friends and a sister turn edgy and fickle, a long-time admirer turns into a crude jester, and Celia spies her husband embracing a ghastly woman in a 'Come Dancing' frock.