The Next Best Thing

At thirty-five, Jane, a freelance translator, realises something rather disturbing. After fifteen years spent building the life she believed she wanted, she's failed. She thought she had her life perfectly balanced - working from home allows her to keep her financial independence, spend time with her daughter, and escape office politics - but somehow, instead of combining a glamorous career with a satisfying mother-daughter relationship, she's combining falling asleep over her laptop with putting on another load of washing. For travel writer Will, Jane's 'partner', things are working out just right. Jane's convenient ability to do housework while bringing in an income means he can indulge his politically correct objections to employing a cleaner; and converting the largest and best part of their house into a 'galleria' which houses himself, his books and his all-important 'thoughts' suits him down to the ground. Lydia, editor-at-large for London's glossiest glossy magazine, knows exactly what she wants out of life: a glittering career, a husband with a large income, and a stately pile in the country. Conveniently, her fiance, The Banker, has a lucrative job and a whole page to himself in Burke's Landed Gentry - but it's just possible that he wants more than that out of life. So when he and Jane meet, all four of them are in for a bit of a shock...