Dominique Delahaye lives a charmed existence – fêted as the glamorous wife of a successful businessman, a generous

supporter of glittering charity events and a wonderfully endearing hostess. Everyone wants a part of the Dazzling Delahayes and their perfect life.

The road to pefection hasn’t always been easy although Dominique has finally made her peace with the past. But the world she’s worked so hard to protect is about to fall apart in a truly devastating way. Now everybody’s talking about the Delahayes for very different reasons – and facing an uncertain future, Dominique has to take control of her own destiny for the first time in her life.

In Stand By Me I wanted to follow a character through her life – the first time I’ve done this since Dreaming of a Stranger. It was important to me that readers understand the woman Dominique has become and how she got there and the best way to do this, I thought, was to follow her journey. Once again I’m writing about family, love and loss although the issues are raised in different ways. I wanted to explore what it is that makes us support each other, whether we do it from love or gratitude – and what happens when we start to think differently about the people closest to us.

As always, I hope you like it.