A friend of the family

by Nicola Thorne

A contemporary novel which combines the intriguing subjects of surrogacy and obsessive love. Tina and Steve seem like the golden rich, good looking with everything they could want except a child of their own. Tina is a very beautiful but temperamental former model, Steve a successful businessman with international interests, but he also wants to develop his stately home in the country as a garden centre and leisure complex. The lynchpin to this enterprise is Louise who, though not unattractive, is solid and sensible and has loyally and devotedly worked for Steve for a number of years, since before his marriage to Tina which came as a shock to her. Louise becomes obsessed with Steve. Her wish to be more closely bound to him leads her to make the radical suggestion that she should be a surrogate mother to his much wanted child by Tina. The consequences of this offer and the effect it has on the relationships not only of the three people most intimately concerned, but also their family and friends, is the subject of this riveting novel.

213 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Nicola Thorne (real name: Rosemary Ellerbeck) was born in Cape Town, South Africa. Her father was English and her mother a New Sealander, and she was brought up and educated in England. She graduated in Sociology at the London School of Economics, but always wanted to pursue a literary career and worked as a reader and editor while writing her first novels. In 1975 she left publishing to write full and and has now written a number of successful novels under the pseudonym Nicola Thorne. She lives in St. John's Wood, London.

Reviews

[Bindu Manoj · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely not a must read