Nina Porter seems to have it all: husband, home, family and security. But her life turns upside down when a marital row over truthfulness sets her thinking. Isn't she dishonest herself, always playing the good wife? The perfect mother and daughter? The supportive friend? Should she, instead, try to live without the little white lies that support us all?

Her husband thinks it can't be done. But he goes away on a business trip. And when a glamorous few days of research in Venice are suddenly on offer, there seems no reason for Nina to refuse them. Or to resist the attentions of the handsome Italian who wants to show her the city.

As Nina entangles herself in a web of deceptions, it starts to look as though honesty might not always be the best policy...

Mavis Cheek's sparkling new novel is about shaking your life up, striking out and learning to be true to yourself. It's told with all the brio and humour that her readers have come to love.

Mavis Cheek was born and grew up in Wimbledon. She began her working life at Editions Alecto, the contemporary art publishers. She then attended Hillcroft College for Women from where she graduated in Arts. After her daughter Bella was born, she began her writing career in earnest; journalism and travel writing at first, then short stories, and eventually, in 1988, her novelPause Between Acts, which won theShe/John MenziesFirst Novel Prize. Her thirteen novels includedMrs Fytton's Country Life,Janice Gentle Gets Sexyand, most recently,Amenable Women,described in theTimesas 'a brilliantly funny, warm, intelligent read'. She now lives and writes in the heart of the English countryside.

A witty and frolicksome romp set in Venice