Published by AVON
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First published in Great Britain by AVON 2017
This title was previously published in eBook as a four-part serial 2016, 2017
Copyright © Bella Osborne 2017
Cover illustration © Kim Leo (house, willow) 2016
All other images © Shutterstock.com
Bella Osborne asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the authorâs imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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Source ISBN: 9780008181024
Ebook Edition © August 2017 ISBN: 9780008181031
Version: 2017-07-19
âLoved this book, so light-hearted and amusingâ
âA lovely readâ
âOh what a little treasure this is! A cast of great characters, lovely Cotswold village and Beth trying to cope with the disaster she has boughtâ
âFull of wit and charmâ
âGreat characters who have quickly become established and rooted in my imagination. Very funny, but with deeper undercurrents woven inâ
âLoved the story, couldnât put it downâ
âAbsolutely loved this book, hooked from the startâ
âThree Words: Brilliant, Charming and Movingâ
âThis is a wonderful readâ
Beth had spent the day surrounded by people who, she suspected, all looked exactly like their passport photos â not a smile between them. Beth yawned and stretched her arms above her head; it had been a long day.
âBid from the lady on the right,â said the auctioneer as he carried on his high-speed number chant.
Beth spun round. She was on the right but it couldnât have been her, could it? Her eyes darted around the room. Nobody was moving, not even a twitch. Her heart was racing and she could feel the panic rising.
âTwo ninety, at the back,â said the auctioneer and Beth let out a sigh of relief. That was a lucky escape.
âAny advance on two ninety?â The auctioneer was looking directly at Beth.
What the hell had she bid on? She snatched up the catalogue and quickly thumbed through the pages, past her first choice of apartments she had come to buy and that had shot high above her budget.
âSelling for two ninety,â said the auctioneer, looking at someone at the back. âLot 37, Willow Cottage, selling for two hundred and ninety thousand pounds.â
Beth found Willow Cottage in the catalogue and speed-read the blurb. It sounded like a slice of paradise â a cottage overlooking a traditional village green in the heart of the Cotswolds. She bit her lip. It was like that moment on eBay when you quite like something; itâs not exactly what you were after but the urge to grab a bargain and be termed a winner suddenly surpasses everything.
âAll done at two hundred and ninety thousand pounds? Going once, going twice â¦â
Beth waved her bidding card in the air. âThree hundred thousand,â she croaked, wondering what on earth she was doing. She was meant to be waiting for her second choice of flats to be auctioned.
âThree hundred thousand on my right, thank you,â said the auctioneer. After checking with the other bidders he finally concluded. âSold to the lady on the right brandishing the upside-down bidding card.â And the gavel gave a satisfying thud as it hit the wood.