The other side of paradise - Vanessa Beaumont

For fans ofDownton Abbey,Gosford ParkandAfter the Party.

Duty, scandal, and a mother's desperate attempt to protect her sons from a secret that will destroy them.

'A breathtakingly good,heartbreaking and utterly absorbing story.'Cressida Connolly, author ofAfter the Party

LONDON 1921- Jean Buckman, a young and innocent American heiress arrives in England to find a society decimated by war but resolutely clinging to the status quo. She marries Edward Warre an engaging but complex man and the owner of a once great but now struggling estate.

As the marriage falters, Jean spends her summers in the South of France where she embarks on a passionate affair that will have repercussions for the rest of her life.

Two sons arrive, the oldest, heir to the estate, is not the true bloodline. But Edward needs Jean's money to survive, and she needs her husband's silence.

The Other Side of Paradiseis the heart-breaking story of a family ripped apart by the shackles of inheritance and the rules imposed upon them by a society thatcannot face the truth.

'Withgorgeously fluid prosethat never snags on the period detail,Beaumont is a debut writer with a bold future.'Jessica Fellowes, author ofThe Mitford Murders