At the age of forty-five, Lucy Henshaw has finally left home. Her decision to go has been reached neither lightly nor suddenly, since her marriage has been broken for some eighteen years. However, as a mother of twin sons and a daughter, Lucy had felt it was her duty to remain in the Bolton family home in which she was born, giving her children the security she knew they needed.Now that her family is grown, Lucy secretly purchases a beautiful house overlooking the Mersey, near Liverpool, and there she plans to start afresh. Within hours, she meets her new neighbours, Moira, who is disabled and dying, and sees Lucy as the ideal new companion for her husband, Richard, Shirley Bishop, built like a battleship and a cleaner extraordinaire, towing her several-inches-shorter, and handy gardener, husband behind her, and Dr David Vincent, who is grieving for the loss of his young son. It is these new friends who come to Lucy's rescue when her husband Alan falls ill. A wastrel and fraudster who has always tried to control her, Alan's illness offers yet another opportunity for him to complicate Lucy's life all over again.Also by Ruth HamiltonTHE JUDGE'S DAUGHTER, THE READING ROOM, MEET ME AT THE PIER HEADwww.ruth-hamilton.co.uk