Really enjoyed this account of the secrets and lives of three sets of seemingly unconnected people. The worldly setting is so vividly described, it had to have been experienced first hand. My sympathies for the characters shifted wildly throughout the book. ( )

Always love to find a new Deborah Moggach book. You can trust the name - character-based fiction at its best. This one has a series of apparently unconnected characters going about their lives, links between them being established as the book goes on. I loved the earthy humour in the early section where Petra and Jeremy are reminiscing about old times when “...you could get a bottle of Mateus Rose, an abortion and a house in Scunthorpe and still have change from a hundred quid”.

The storyline involving Lorrie, a woman from Texas who embarks on a startling course of action to recoup the saving she has lost in an internet scam, is the repository of much of the drama, and if there was any disappointment, it was that we didn’t hear as much from her , whereas the comforting-Bev-in-Africa seemed to go on a bit too long.

But all in all a good solid read with lots of thought-provoking content. ( )

I

One of my favourite authors weaves together stories with strands from Africa, China, the US and England. ( )

I picked this book up at Heathrow Airport on my way back out to China, and when I flipped through it on the plane I wondered why I'd bought it. However, three days ago I picked it up and within a nano-second was completely engrossed!. Moggach skillfully weaves the stories of several individuals into a cracking tale.
The barren wife of a rich Chinese businessman; the happily married wife (mother of two kids) of an American soldier serving in Iraq. A middle classed post menopausal women who embarks on a life-changing affair with the husband of her oldest friend...
Its a cracking tale, you learn a great deal along the way, and the outcome is not what you expect ---- wonderful escapism in a book! ( )