Thanks to Harry Ricketts and Guy Somerset for their support, Creative New Zealand for my first arts grant, and to Jeremy, Jamie and David for agreeing to let me take four months off from our business, and for not bothering me too much during that time.
Extra thanks and lots of love to the aforementioned David, who doubles as my husband, and who is all for me pressing on with this writing lark, despite the fact I haven’t yet earned enough to buy him even a toy model of a Ferrari. And more embarrassing love to my sons, Callum and Finn, whose creative talents probably will see their dad in that Ferrari after all.
About the Author
Catherine Robertson is the author of three previous novels, all number one New Zealand bestsellers. She lives beside the sea in Wellington, New Zealand, with her husband, two rescue dogs and a Burmese cat. She has one son at home and one in London. When both sons were younger, the Robertson family spent time living in Marin County, California, and in the Buckinghamshire countryside. The red phone box at the end of the lane was real and may well be still there.
ALSO BY
CATHERINE ROBERTSON
The Sweet Second Life of Darrell Kincaid
No one knows ‘happy endings’ like romance novelist Darrell Kincaid. She’s delivered eight of them to her readers with pleasure. But it’s not to be with book number nine. In the act of adding the final full stop, Darrell has a revelation: it’s not the ending that really matters but what comes next. Darrell now sees that when her husband, Tom, died (twenty-one months and three days ago but who’s counting?) she lost more than the man she loved. She lost her own ‘happy ever after’. The life she expected to live has gone, vanished forever in a puff of fickle, unfair smoke.
Darrell knows she has a choice. She can stay in New Zealand and live a half-life, or she can leave in search of something — perhaps someone — else. So Darrell decides upon London, the least romantic capital she knows (why set yourself up for disappointment?). Armed with Nancy Mitford’s Love in a Cold Climate as her guide to proper Englishness and the ideal romantic hero, she sets out to live the sweet second life she deserves.
‘… a well-written, thoroughly entertaining read.’
— NORTH & SOUTH
‘This is the novel I wish I’d written — a warm, laugh-out-loud funny romantic comedy … deserves to be an international success.’
— WAIRARAPA TIMES AGE
‘… poignant, warm and entertaining.’
— HAWKE’S BAY WEEKEND
‘You can’t help but like the slightly hopeless Darrell as she takes the first shaky steps towards her new life. A promising debut.’
— WEEKEND HERALD
The Not So Perfect Life of Mo Lawrence
Michelle Lawrence’s perfect life has been just as she’s designed it. But then her husband, Chad, ruins everything by taking a job in San Francisco, about as far from their comfortable family home as it’s possible to get without actually emigrating. Up until now, Chad’s primary focus has been keeping her happy, and Michelle can see no good reason why this should change.
But change it has, and Michelle now has to deal with Chad’s increasing detachment, while building a new life with her two small children in a place filled with cat-eating coyotes. On top of that, Michelle’s oldest friend is turning against marriage, while her newest is a little too obsessed with clean taps.
And down the redwood-lined street, there’s Aishe Herne, a woman who could pick a fight with a silent order of nuns. Aishe has designed her own kind of perfect life, in which there’s room for her, her teenage son and no one else. But when cousin Patrick lands in town like a Cockney nemesis, both Aishe and Michelle must begin determined campaigns to regain their grip on the steering wheel of their lives.
‘The Not So Perfect Life of Mo Lawrence is as quirky, funny and unafraid to puncture pretension as Michelle herself. How can you help but enjoy a story in which a person can be cut from a cloth that is “the kind of synthetic, flocked upholstery fabric that felt like hell against your skin but which would wear until the crack of doom. And which matched the curtains”?’
— OTAGO DAILY TIMES
‘It would be a disservice to refer to Robertson’s work as “chick lit” unless that means wickedly funny, clever and well-written. Although the book is a very entertaining read, it is by no means light and fluffy … The Not So Perfect Life of Mo Lawrence deserves to enjoy the same success as Robertson’s first book. With any luck, a third book is already underway.’
— BOOKSELLERS NZ
‘A good story, with great characters — fun from the first page to the last.’
— NZ DOCTOR
The Misplaced Affections of Charlotte Fforbes
When Charlotte Fforbes inadvertently falls in love with her boss, her usually cool self-control is tested to its limit. Thus far, Charlotte has carefully avoided love’s emotional tar pit, but suddenly she is in it up to her neck. Her first strategy is to ignore it — for one thing, boss Patrick is a husband and father.
Then Charlotte is given a clue that Patrick’s marriage may not be as stable as believed, and that is enough to fan a spark of hope into an infatuation-fuelled inferno. Transformed from efficient PA into a woman whose reason has been muffled with duct-tape and locked in a cellar, she’ll now do anything to find a way into Patrick’s heart.
Anything includes arranging to be nanny-for-a-month to the small children of Patrick and his wife and two other families at a Lake Como villa. Charlotte’s complete lack of child-minding experience daunts her the least. If she’s to win Patrick, she must also prevent his cousin’s wife being seduced by her charming, feckless ex, while fending off dogs, Gypsy gatecrashers and a large, vengeful ghost from Patrick’s past.
But Charlotte’s biggest test will come when she is forced to question whether her affections have been entirely misplaced — and, if so, was this her last ever chance to feel love like this again?
‘… as wry and endearing as her two previous novels and continues to explore the lives of their characters from the perspective of new, and just as idiosyncratic, narrators … She has a knack for odd imagery that is humorous and evocative and I found this novel as much fun as its predecessors.’
— OTAGO DAILY TIMES
‘The sheer naughtiness of Charlotte is part of the book’s appeal, along with trademark Robertson wit, sharp observations on parenting and less-than-perfect children, and the welcome return of characters from her delightful debut, The Sweet Second Life of Darrell Kincaid. If, like me, you want a bit of grit with your chick lit-style entertainment, it’s time you discovered Catherine Robertson.’
— DOMINION POST WEEKEND
For more information about our titles please visit
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Copyright
The assistance of Creative New Zealand is gratefully
acknowledged by the publisher
A BLACK SWAN BOOK published by Random House
New Zealand, 18 Poland Road, Glenfield, Auckland, New Zealand
For more information about our titles go to
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the
National Library of New Zealand
Random House New Zealand is part of the Random House Group
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First published 2015
© 2015 Catherine Robertson
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
ISBN 978 1 77553 642 0
eISBN 978 1 77553 643 7
This book is copyright. Except for the purposes of fair reviewing no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Design: Carla Sy
Cover illustration: Ebru Sidar / Trevillion Images
Author photograph: Miriam Douglas
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