The wives of Bath - Wendy Holden

Yummy mummies with flat brown tummies...

Two couples collide in an ante-natal class. Flash Hugo and Amanda want smart private hospitals and maternity nurses to the stars. Ultra-green Alice and Jake want an all-natural home birth with whale music and tree-hugging nappies.

Yet parenthood doesn't quite go to plan. Amanda soon decides being a mummy is less yummy than Gwyneth Paltrow makes it look. Hugo fails miserably to bond with his son and when Amanda disappears to resume her hot-shot career, he's left literally holding the baby with no idea what to do. Being constantly faced with sickening superdad Jake hardly helps his confidence.

Blissed-out new mother Alice has problems too. Jake's increasingly rampant right-on-ness has them drinking from jam jars and spending Christmas with a recycled-cardboard tree.

Will Alice and Hugo cope, let alone find happiness? Not before secret affairs, scheming spouses, beastly bosses and nympho nursery mothers have done their terrible worst...