WATERMELON

Watermelon, Marian Keyes's very first novel, tells the extremely funny and wonderfully touching tale of a woman who thought she had it all - until the day she discovers that it's all gone . . .

'Failed relationships can be described as so much wasted makeup . . .'

On the day she gives birth to her first child, Claire Walsh's husband James tells her he's been having an affair and now's the right time to leave her.

Right for who exactly? Exhausted, tearful and tiny bit furious, Claire can't think what to do. So she follows the instincts of all self-respecting adults in tricky situations.

. . . And runs home to Mum and Dad.

But while her parents are sympathetic, Claire's younger sisters are less so. Helen wants to share the new toy (she means baby Kate). While Anna is too busy having out-of-her-head experiences.

So when James slips back into her life, desperate to put things right, Claire doesn't know whether to take a chance on a past she'd feared she'd lost for ever or face an uncertain future on her own.

But is she as on her own as she really believes?