'A novel as tight as a snare-drum and as bright as the moon' Financial Times Clare and Helly have been friends since school. But since then, their lives have moved in opposite directions. Now, Clare is married with three small children, she bakes her own bread and buys her clothes from the charity shop. Meanwhile, Helly is an actress and has her golden curves pasted up on billboards ten foot high. Each of them seems to want what the other has. An improbable coincidence brings Clare back into contact with someone she once had sex with at a teenage party: he's Helly's new boyfriend. The encounter needn't have meant anything - it could just have been funny, or embarrassing - but it could have the power to shake up Clare's whole life… 'This writer is a rare and startling gem; she deserves to be read' Guardian