The paradise waltz - Jessica Stirling

Christine Summers is a pretty young teacher in a country school in the 1930s and the apple of more than one man's eye in Jessica Stirling's captivating new novel.

Christine has no intention of sacrificing her independence to marry anyone, least of all Charley Noonan, the rough-tongued young farmer who has been pursuing her for years. When she meets lonely widower Alan Kelso, however, Christine finds herself falling in love.

Alan has also caught the eye of pony breeder Beatty McCall. Passionate, experienced and unscrupulous, Beatty wants him for herself and is willing to offer him more, it seems, than Christine can ever hope to match.

But sometimes all it takes to fall in love is dancing to the Paradise Waltz . . .

Rich in tangled affections and intriguing characters, in The Paradise Waltz Jessica Stirling captures all the pain and humour of life a small, gossip-ridden village in the dream-time between two world wars when wireless and the cinema were changing everyone's ideas about romance.