Pear Shaped (38 page)
Claire B. Thank you. Thank you.
Charlotte – for perpetual grace and good cheer.
Cathryn and Becki – for all your hard work and support.
All of the Avon ladies – for immense patience, hard work and energy on my behalf.
C – for the joy, and for the learning experience.
Mr and Mrs Jones – for generosity beyond compare.
My dear sister – for being a tough crowd all the way. Now will you take this to your book group?
Tabby and Cesca – the icing on my cake.
My first husband, paint-drinker, lamb-wrangler, horse-stealer of the highest order R Genn – the biggest brain, the biggest heart – to whom I owe a debt of more than 55 million x
And finally to Mum and Dad – for giving me strong legs.
Stella Newman studied English at Sussex University. She lives in London and is a freelance copywriter and keen amateur cook. She is currently writing her second novel and her first screenplay. She blogs about restaurants, food and writing at www.stellanewmansblog.blogspot.com.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction.
The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
AVON
A division of HarperCollins
Publishers
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London W6 8JB
A Paperback Original 2011
Stella Newman asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN-13: 978-1-84756-270-8
Set in Bembo MT Pro by Palimpsest Book Production Limited, Falkirk, Stirlingshire
PEAR-SHAPED
. Copyright © Stella Newman 2011. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition © DECEMBER 2011 ISBN: 978-0-00-745769-4
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I am also not averse to a small pot of Ambrosia custard, not least because it keeps for ages and ages and is handily small-portioned for when your self-control is weak.
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