Melody Browne can remember nothing before her ninth birthday. Now in her early thirties, Melody lives in the middle of London with her seventeen-year-old son. She hasnt seen her parents since she left home at fifteen, but Melody doesn't mind. Shes better off on her own.

And then fragments of her past start to come back. At first her memories mean nothing to her but slowly, day by day, she begins to piece together the real story of her childhood.

But with every mystery she solves another one materialises, with every question she answers another appears. And Melody begins to wonder if she'll ever know the truth about her past ...

Lisa Jewell had always planned to write her first book when she was fifty. In fact she wrote it when she was twenty-seven and had just been made redundant from her job as a secretary. Inspired by Nick HornbysHigh Fidelity,a book about young people just like her who lived in London, she wrote the first three chapters of what was to become her first novel,Ralphs Party. It went on to become the bestselling debut novel of 1998.

Fifteen bestselling novels later, she lives in London with her husband and their two daughters. Lisa writes every day in a local café where she can drink coffee, people-watch and, without access to the internet, actually get some work done . . .

Keep in touch with Lisa: www.lisa-jewell.co.uk www.facebook.com/LisaJewellOfficial @lisajewelluk on Twitter