I have to admit to having a stake in this. I met Fiona on the MN creative writing board in 2015 and we have been great friends ever since.
Several published books later, she has a new book out today and I really think this is the best one she has written. I read an early draft of it and I'm now reading the published copy. It's beautifully written and is set over four decades so it's bringing back a lot of memories.
To save me doing a botch job of describing it, this is what it says about it on Amazon. I can highly recommend this
Four decades. Four seasons. Four chance encounters with the same man.
Spring 1986, Oxford. Rachel has landed on her feet: engaged to handsome author Jonny, soon to be stepmother to his young daughter Teddy, and with a dream to open her own art gallery. It’s everything she wished for during her unsettled childhood. So when she meets candid and carefree American artist Gabe at a party and feels a familiar spark, she knows she needs to resist.
But as her perfect life moves forward, Gabe is never far away, and there’s no denying the lure of the spontaneous, wildly adventurous existence he seems to offer. His is a world of endless possibilities—ones Rachel can’t let herself be tempted by if she’s ever to stay the safe course with Jonny. But how can she focus on the life she thought she wanted when she can’t help imagining the alternative?
One thing’s for certain: Gabe is more than a minor character in Rachel’s life. And as their paths intersect over seasons and decades, each meeting presents Rachel with a choice that could alter everything, and she has to wonder whether the life story she once fought for is the version she’s meant to be living…