Bernadette Strachan

Due for publication in October 2010
ISBN 0751542296

Well, it's a good question, isn't it? And Cat O'Connor, escaping from a ruined affair, is about to find the answer. When she is invited to join a group of women in a huge, decaying farmhouse deep in the West Country, Cat prepares to embark on a life without men. She is promised a nirvana of serenity where the chores are done without mutinous mutterings, nourishing food simmers on the Aga and feelings are taken seriously. But Cat soon discovers that women are no saints either. Vegetable-related subterfuge, secret passions, a misogynist ghost and a pig called Dave all nudge Cat on her way to answering the vital question in every girl's life with wit, humour and warmth.

Published in April 2009
ISBN 075154230X

On the surface, Ruby Gallagher has the perfect life: an adoring husband, Manny, a beautiful home and a luxury lifestyle that involves shopping, holidays and not much else. It's safe, predictable - exactly what she needs after her turbulent past.

Until one day it all collapses as Manny is arrested for fraud. And it seems it's not only his business deals that have been shady - Ruby discovers he's been hiding a mistress and son too. But as her designer lifestyle is repossessed, Ruby dusts herself down and starts again. With the help of some good friends, bad wine and a new business venture, Ruby discovers that she's a lot better off without her husband holding her back. If only he would see it that way . . .

Fabulous characters and a warm and funny story make How to Lose a Husband and Gain a Life unputdownable.

Published in February 2008
ISBN 0340898054

Jilted bride, Billie Baskerville is summoned by her Aunt Barbara to remotest Sussex. Aunt Babs is going to Australia on a OAP-GAP year, and needs Billie to take over running her shop...her wedding dress shop. Putting a cynical, groom-hating, wedding-loathing, bride-detesting girl in charge of such a shop might seem a little hasty, but before long Billie can't help but get swept away with the romance of the whole thing, and with village life. She gives the shop a much-needed makeover, reunites lovers, not to mention long lost relatives and also starts rebuilding her own life again.

It's all starting to look up - even if her family is crazy, her gay best friend is converting every man in the village, and Billie is still emailing her ex.

But then, enter stage left, a very handsome firefighter...

Published in January 2007
ISBN 0340898046

Novelist Sunny Parkinson might write scorching romances, but her own life is decidedly lacking in passion.

A knicker-snatcher is at large in her block of flats. Her best friend’s marriage is crumbling over a luncheon meat scandal. She lives with a spherical couch potato and a workaholic virgin. And an Irish nun has just moved in to their spare room.

But one night at the launderette she meets Count Fabio Carelli - a man so traffic-stoppingly sexy he could have stepped straight from the pages of her latest novel…

Candlelit dinners, luxury spa dates and weekends in Paris are a far cry from the weekly pint and pork scratchings with her ex-turned-TV-gardener. Sunny is understandably dazzled.

Is this the happy ending she’s always craved or is it too good to be true?

Published in November 2005
ISBN 0340831987

Nell Fitzgerald suspects there must be more to life than pampering celebrity egos at the theatrical agency where she works, especially when she’s blackmailed into playing girlfriend to a closet gay, perma-tanned TV presenter with a penchant for wearing leather chaps.

Vowing to inject a little depth into her existence she enrols at a local charity. But when her variousred carpet appearances spark embarrassing tabloid headlines that raise eyebrows at the volunteer centre, Nell realizes doing good isn’t easy.

Chaos reigns as she tries to juggle these two very different worlds as well as her eccentric family and perplexed girlfriends. And there’s an added complication: Nell’s growing feelings for her boss at the volunteer centre – a very grown up, frighteningly sexy single dad…

Published in November 2004
ISBN 0340831960

Ever wished you’d been invited to Ralph’s Party? Fancied moving in with Will and Grace? Then come right in and make yourself at home…

Actress Evie Crump seems to have it all: glamorous job, beautiful man, and now – thanks to an unexpected inheritance – a lovely big house.

In reality, Crump isn’t the name-in-lights to get Hollywood producers banging on her door; the man is her best friend Bing – more likely to borrow her kinky knickers than buy them for her; the house is a rambling ruin complete with lodgers from hell.

Then Evie gets her big break– in a dog food commercial. Suddenly she has two roles to play; leading lady to her gorgeous leading man, and reluctant landlady in the real-life soap opera of 18 Kemp Street – where the plot is about to thicken…