Judy Astley

Let bestselling author Judy Astley sweep you away with this insightful and uplifting gem of a novel about the important things in life. Perfect for fans of Jenny Colgan, Milly Johnson and Trisha Ashley."Astley writes with humour and insight about the stresses and strains of family life" - THE TIMES"A most absorbing and revealing read" - WOMAN'S WEEKLY"Judy Astley's books are always a joy to read." -- ***** Reader review"Judy Astley is a brilliant writer, you get lost in her books. They are all brilliant in my opinion." -- ***** Reader review *********************************************************HER LIFE SEEMS COMPLETE, BUT THERE'S ONE THING SHE HAS TO FIND...Funerals are strange things. Kitty hadn't really wanted to go to this one - a old school friend she hadn't seen for years - and she hadn't bargained for the way it made her think of the past. In particular, it made her think of the baby she had given birth to when she was eighteen and been forced to give away for adoption. She'd called her Madeleine, and she remembered her every day, wondered what she was like, if she was happy. Now, reminded of how cruelly short life can be, she has to see her - just to make sure she'd done the right thing.Life has turned out pretty well for Kitty: a secure marriage, two teenage children and a house within sound and sight of the Cornish surf... But the hole left by that first baby isn't getting any smaller, and she decides to make the first, tentative steps towards filling it - although she, and all her family, are quite unprepared for what this means...

Have you ever wondered what your ex is up to?When Nell was a student, she and Patrick were a serious item. It's crisis time - and she makes two decisions: First - she will take lessons in self-defence. Second - she will try and find Patrick again.

It is almost a year since Sean and Thea met and it's been a roller-coaster ride: they're getting married on Christmas Day! Neither Thea or Sean want a big fuss - a simple wedding, with Christmas lights and just a few sprigs of mistletoe for decoration is all they need. But before they know it, things begin to get complicated.

Every July, the lucky owners of Cornish holiday homes set off for their annual break. They close up their desirable semis in smartish London suburbs - having turned off the Aga and turned on the burglar alarm - and look forward to a carefree, restful, somehow more fulfilling summer. Clare is more than usually ready for her holiday.

Thea�s parents decide to host a big family Christmas in a house by the sea� even though they are, in fact, about to split up. Thea herself is newly single - her sister and brother are both settled, with children, homes and a future.

It's twenty years since Miranda, then sixteen, holidayed in Cornwall and her life changed forever. Now she's back again - with her mother Clare and the ashes of her stepfather Jack, whose wish was to be scattered on the sea overlooked by their one-time holiday home.

With a stroppy teenage daughter, a demanding mother, and siblings who want to control her life for her, where is she going to turn?Readers love Judy Astley:"Warm, funny and unerringly true to life" Katie Fforde"Irresistible" Daily Mail"An enjoyable light read" Sunday Mirror

Her latest boyfriend 'forgot' to tell her about his current wife, so she's single again. Now, her ex-husband has turned up, wanting to sell the family home in which she and their two teenage children are happily living their lives. Then Bella sees a chance to stay in the house and earn some money.

Let bestselling author Judy Astley sweep you away with this uplifting, laugh-out-loud romance. Perfect for fans of Jenny Colgan, Milly Johnson and Trisha Ashley."Warm, funny, unerringly true to life" - Katie Fforde"A light, enjoyable read you won't be able to resist warming to" - Daily Mail"With sharp dialogue that will have you laughing out loud, and well drawn characters to boot, this is an enjoyable light read" - Sunday Mirror"Really enjoyable...very amusing" -- ***** Reader review"I loved it" -- ***** Reader review************************************************************IS THERE LIFE AFTER MARRIAGE?When Melanie finds herself single again after years of being one half of a couple, her friends predict loneliness, frustration, disaster and her parents are convinced she's a failure in life. But Melanie is overwhelmingly excited to be able to do her own thing - she plans a programme of behaving badly, after a lifetime of behaving properly.With her daughter off to university and ex-husband Roger married off at last - to his lamentably young girlfriend - she has a Free House, and she intends to make the most of it.But is the single life quite all it's cracked up to be?

Sara's mother told her that she shouldn't marry Conrad - that the twenty-five-year age gap between them would tell in the end. Sara, teaching art at a local college, finds that she has plenty of male company - other people's husbands, ones she tells Conrad all about, who are just good friends to her.

Readers of Carole Matthews, Jenny Colgan, Lucy Diamond and Milly Johnson will love this wonderfully witty and whimsical comedy from bestselling author Judy Astley. Perfect to settle down with!'A fun romp ... funny and surprisingly thought provoking.' -- Sunday Express'A hugely entertaining novel' -- Cambridge Style Magazine'Another fluffy, fun read from Astley.' -- In The Know'I loved it ... a lovely summer read' -- New Books Magazine'A smashing novel' -- ***** Reader review'Great story line, a lot of fun, kept my interest and didn't disappoint' -- ***** Reader review'A fun book!' -- ***** Reader review'A thoroughly enjoyable read' -- ***** Reader review*********************************************************************************************WILL THE KIDS GET WHAT'S COMING TO THEM?Sorrel is about to go off on her Gap Year. She sooo wants a home to come home to.Ilex, her brother, is trying to upgrade his flat and marry his smart girlfriend Manda. He'd like some immediate equity.Clover, the elder sister, has plans that involve a bijou second home in France. And she wants it now.If only their parents would be sensible. If only they would sell their large, rather grand but somewhat dilapidated home and hand over their inheritance.But parents aren't always as sensible as their children. They are planning on blowing the lot...

Do the friendships you make on holiday have anything to do with real life? It might be sensible to hope that they don't!! Bestselling author Judy Astley has written another highly entertaining, hilarious and upbeat escapist read - perfect for readers of Carole Matthews, Jenny Colgan, Lucy Diamond and Milly Johnson.'As sweet and intoxicating as a glass of rum punch' -- ET Life'A warm, funny story of love, life and infidelity...' -- Woman'Romantic fiction at its best' -- ***** Reader review'Warm and witty' -- ***** Reader review'Riveting' -- ***** Reader review*************************************************************************Everyone likes a holiday romance - but not if your husband's having it!For the last few years, Beth and Ned have gone to the same Caribbean island to the same luxury spa hotel. There they meet the same crowd, and take up where they left off last time. Real life, home life, family life, are all safely left behind.Except this year.This year, home problems have somehow tagged along for the ride. Ned has been playing away - a bit of a drunken fling, that's all, nothing to worry about, Beth thinks. But although they have put it all behind them, what Beth doesn't know is that Ned's fling was with the female half of one of the couples they are holidaying with.To make matters worse, Beth has insisted on bringing along their sixteen-year-old daughter Delilah, who's been ill and needs rest and sunshine. Not so ill, however, that she can't look around for some entertainment...

Fans of Carole Matthews, Jenny Colgan, Lucy Diamond and Milly Johnson will love this uplifting and upbeat comic novel from bestselling author Judy Astley. The perfect dose of escapism!'As irresistible as triple choc fudge cake - with extra cream' -- Mail on Sunday'A witty take on a modern dilemma' -- Woman and Home'You'll love this funny novel' -- Sun'Real wit...The story is so entertaining' -- Scottish Daily Record'A refreshingly good read' -- ***** Reader review'Good fun' -- ***** Reader review'I couldn't put the book down. Great read!' -- ***** Reader review****************************************************************************************Does losing weight make you a happier person?Jay has always envied her cousin Delphine. While Jay was brought up in a large, noisy and chaotic family, Delphine was indulged, perfectly dressed with a co-ordinated bedroom, an immaculate wardrobe, dancing lessons and monogrammed silver-backed hairbrushes.Now Jay lives happily with her architect husband and their three teenage children, running a successful cleaning company and trying to keep some kind of order on her disorderly household, while Delphine has long since disappeared to Australia with her second husband.But Jay does sometimes wonder whether she should be more like her cousin - utterly well-organised and with a seemingly perfect body.So Jay decides to diet. But what should it be? She tries a range, with a variety of successes and failures.But then Delphine reappears, with a third husband in prospect and the same old air of apparently effortless superiority. But Jay never considers that perhaps Delphine is the envious one...

Perfect escapism again from the pen of bestselling author Judy Astley, No Place for a Man is a sizzling and seriously funny novel about family life and the eternal need to hold everything - and everyone - together. Perfect for fans of Carole Matthews, Jenny Colgan, Lucy Diamond and Milly Johnson. 'Amusing and entertaining, easily relatable and recognisable characters' -- ***** Reader review'I couldn't put the book down. Great read!' -- ***** Reader review'Warm and witty' -- ***** Reader review'Riveting' -- ***** Reader review*******************************************************************************SOMEONE HAS TO HOLD IT ALL TOGETHER, AND IT WON'T BE HIM!Jess has just waved goodbye to her darling son, off backpacking to Oz. She's left with two teenage daughters and husband Matt - all of whom find themselves regularly featured in her popular and lighthearted newspaper column in which she conveys to her readers an enviably cheery muddle of family life. Things become less rosy when Matt, after twenty years with the same firm, is made redundant. Only Jess sees the potential calamity in this. Matt is delighted with his new freedom and takes to hanging out at the local bar with others of the male barely-employable tendency, drinking and drifting and dreaming up hopeless schemes to make them all rich...Daughter no. 1, meanwhile, has taken up with a mysterious boy living in an abandoned car on the allotment, and her younger sister is over-burdened with a surfeit of secrets. For Jess, trying to hold everything together and missing her first-flown child, it becomes ever-harder to maintain the carefree façade for her readers. Of course she could just tell them the truth...

Let bestselling author Judy Astley sweep you away with this uplifting, laugh-out-loud comedy which shows EXACTLY what little boys are made of. Perfect for fans of Jenny Colgan, Milly Johnson and Trisha Ashley.'A funny, incisive gem of a novel' - Sunday Post'This deliciously funny novel had me laughing out loud' - Woman and Home'A funny, warm and moving novel' - Sunday Mirror"Judy Astley's books are always a joy to read." -- ***** Reader review"Judy Astley is a brilliant writer, you get lost in her books. They are all brilliant in my opinion." -- ***** Reader review 'Great escapism' -- ***** Reader review**************************************************************************PEACE AT LAST? NOT LIKELY!After twenty years of marriage, Nina had offloaded serial philanderer Joe and was happy enough, thank you, coping alone with their two demanding daughters and her own hectic life. It felt like freedom, not having to wonder constantly where Joe was, who with and up to what.But into Nina's new, carefree life some disturbing elements began to appear. A flasher had been accosting young girls on the nearby common, leaving every man in the area under suspicion. Home, to Nina, no longer felt so safe. And Joe, during one of his oh-so-civilised monthly lunches with Nina, revealed that the new love in his life, pin-thin, power-dressed Catherine, had decided that she now required a baby.But babies, Joe told Nina, were what he did with her: a remark that Nina found oddly unsettling...

Bestselling author Judy Astley hits the funnybone of contemporary life yet again in this delicious comedy, perfect for fans of Carole Matthews, Jenny Colgan, Lucy Diamond and Milly Johnson'Fast and fun' -- Woman & Home'It sparkles with Astley's wry wit' -- Peterborough Evening Telegraph'Loved reading this book' -- ***** Reader review'Enjoyed this from beginning to end' -- ***** Reader review'This is my happy book and I loved it so much I've read it twice' -- ***** Reader review'Very funny' -- ***** Reader review**************************************************************************************************EVERYONE HAS THEIR GUILTY PLEASURES...The residents of the Close were much concerned with crime - preventing it, that is. With all those out-of-work teenagers on the nearby council estate hanging around, stealing, joy-riding and goodness knows what else, it was just as well that Paul Mathieson was setting up a Neighbourhood Watch scheme.Not that the inhabitants of the Close did not have their own little activities, of course, but these were hardly the same thing...If Jenny and Alan's daughter was caught travelling on the underground without a ticket, and their son was doing a little experimenting with certain substances, and Laura didn't see the need to declare her earnings from hiring out her house to a film crew, and Jenny drove home only just over the legal limit - well, these were quite different matters, not to be compared with what went on in the Estate.And then there was Jenny's discovery, when she advertised flute lessons, that she could work up quite a nice little earner in a rather unexpected way...As the leafy London street resounded to the efforts of its citizens to keep crime at bay, Jenny realised that it was her marriage, rather than her property, that needed watching.