JACARANDA WIFE

Katie and Tom’s marriage is in trouble. When Tom tells Katie that they need to talk, she fears two things. Either he has discovered her kiss with her best friend’s husband, or they are in worse debt than she thought. What she was not expecting was for him to say that his boss is sending him to Australia. Permanently.

When a double dip recession hits along with a tax bill, most people tighten their belts, cancel the summer holiday and look for the two-for-one offers. But not Katie Parkes. The home-loving mother of two from London finds herself tightening her seatbelt on a plane to Australia, where her husband has been sent to save their financial bacon. And, she realizes, it might just be what they need to save their marriage… Trouble is, she doesn’t much like heat, can’t swim properly, hates spiders and finds herself further outside the M25 than is strictly necessary. Then there’s the Sydney yummy mummy with a cleavage you’d loose your car keys in eyeing up her husband, bouts of homesickness – and a few deadly spiders. Taking the bull by the horns (or at least pulling on an old Speedo) she tackles her fear of the ocean first. Find out how Katie copes in her new country – does it provide the spark to ignite her marriage, or send the whole thing up in smoke? Kendra Smith is a journalist with over 15 years' experience in both working in-house for women's magazines (at BBC Worldwide and Cosmopolitan) and latterly writing freelance (Woman & Home) and has been published in other magazines. She lived and worked in Australia for nearly 10 years and has dual citizenship. Kendra is already at work on her second novel, not a sequel to JACARANDA WIFE though she might turn her hand to that as well in the future.