Gliterary Lunches - Food For Thought

One of Us
by Melissa Benn

A subtle and poignant novel about the dangerous space between private and public lives, about kingmakers and power, by a writer who should know…

The narrative opens in March 2003. A leading journalist and a forty-two-year-old woman meet at a dingy London cafe in the immediate aftermath of the invasion of Iraq. Anna Adams has a story she is burning to tell, one that goes right to the top of the Cabinet. As the story unfolds and her marriage begins to crumble, Anna finds herself at the mercy of events, emotions and the most vicious form of blackmail.

One of Us is a gripping story of love and betrayal, giving unparalleled insights into the conflicts that arise when vaulting ambition clashes with private values and family life.

The author

Melissa Benn is a writer, journalist and campaigner, and a member of one of Britain's best known political families. She has written one previous novel, Public Lives (1995), which reviewers praised for its ' acute intelligence' and 'incredible subtlety'. Benn writes regularly for the Guardian and other national publications. She lives in north-west London with her husband and two daughters.

'The final chapters are so gripping you won't be able to put it down'
The Tatler

The Consequences of Marriage
by Isla Dewar

When James McElroy saw the ad for a lodger with 'Bibi Sanders' in a smart Edinburgh street, he pictured a glamorous young landlady with whom he would form a meaningful and deep relationship. But Bibi's in her seventies. She's led a full life, including marriage to the domineering and difficult Callum, now deceased, and raised six children. She's not sure what to make of James and suspects - rightly - a troubling secret in his past. When Bibi sets out to re-visit the past for the final time via a tour of Britain in her rather unexpected Volvo sports car, James decides to go with her.

In this irresistible and unputdownable novel, Isla Dewar offers a searing insight into human nature and relationships while also bringing out the humour of the darkest situations. It's a journey full of surprises and revelations - and, in Isla Dewar's inimitable way, it will entertain and enlighten every reader.

The author

Isla Dewar was born in Edinburgh. She wrote articles for magazines and newspapers for many years before she wrote her first novel, KEEPING UP WITH MAGDA, in 1995. She lives in Fife with her husband, a cartoonist; they have two sons.

'Dewar has a great knack of taking ordinary people and situations and flipping them on their heads, and her characters are engagingly eccentric and complex'
Glamour