Happy birthday and all that - Rebecca Smith

Posy has always dreamt of being the heroine of a Francoise Sagan novel. But life seems to have her passed by and now here she is, a stressed-out mother of four. Although she's married to a man called Parouselli who comes from a long line of trapeze artists and they live in a large, romantic house, it's not quite as magical as it sounds.

Frank's dream of being a musician is a reality of distributing BettaKleen catalogues, the house is falling to bits and there are slugs living under the bath. Posy wonders how everyone else manages. Struggling through the mess of family life, she dreams of being a member of The Thin Legs Club, with an immaculate house, children who don't get ill, and a human Renault Espace of a husband. If only!