"Heaven save us from ourselves. And if you can’t manage that, I’d settle for saving me from me. Just when I thought it was safe to go back in the water, here I am again, drowning for all to see. Not waving, as the troubled swimmer once famously said. I busied myself with any household task I could find . . ."

Recently widowed but putting a brave face on it all (thanks to a not insignificant windfall) Helen’s only problem, it seems, is the imminent arrival of her fortieth birthday. Not something she can possibly avoid, ignore or sulk about – not with friends like Leoni and sisters like Julia around . . .

And there is much to celebrate. A beautiful new flat, gorgeous hospitable neighbours and a delicious sense of freedom that only money can buy. Until, that is, money becomes the one big fat problem in Helen’s life and she becomes part of the unwilling army of the employed. But it is no ordinary job that Helen is qualified for, in fact she is qualified for precious little, which leads to her first ever encounter with ‘the boss from hell’ . . .