The Lavender House

Hilary Boyd, author of the bestselling Thursdays in the Park, returns with a very modern dilemma: how much duty do we owe to our families as we get older, and how much do we owe it to ourselves to chase happiness? Nancy de Vries is 63, the glue that holds her family together. On the one hand there's her ageing mother Frances, who is getting more and more vague; on the other, there's her daughter Victoria and son-in-law Mark, owners of a not-very-successful restaurant and frequent users of Nancy's babysitting services. Divorced from her famous classical composer husband Christopher, it seems as though Nancy's fate is to quietly wait out the rest of her life, gradually shouldering more and more of the burden of responsibility for all three generations.Then, at a rare evening out, she meets Jim. Smoker, drinker, unsuccessful country singer and sporter of both cowboy boots and a ponytail, he seems distinctly unsuited to the very together Nancy. And yet... there is a spark. She continues to see him, and he helps her reconnect with her own musical talent, long sidelined to help Christopher's career.However, Nancy's family are convinced Jim is unreliable and only having a bit of fun with her, or worse, after her money. When Jim unexpectedly inherits a gite in Provence and asks Nancy to move there with him, it's decision time.'Marry me,' he says. 'I love you, let's spend the rest of our lives together.' But can Nancy really cut ties with her family and start a new life?