PATRICIA HARPER'S BOOKS: GUILT TRIP By Patricia Harper

GUILT TRIP By Patricia Harper

A reproachful look from a famine victim sends divorcee Susan Clayfield on a "Guilt Trip" which will lead her towards the loss of her job, her health and her home as she struggles to help her various charities, mainly for African victime of famine. Her work has suffered and she has been given three months to improve her appearance and general performance at "Epitome," the Insurance Company she works for. She has been moved from Customer Services to Accounts where she will work under the eccentric Mark Farriday. A bizarre trip to Italy with her new boss brings about a tour of Rome, Sorrento, Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius. After an accident they are forced to spend a night on the volcano, and Susan realises her feelings have grown towards him. But he is besotted with Sally, a tart with muscular thighs. Back home, Susan's debts have spiralled out of control and her home is now at risk. Can she pull back from the brink to save it? www.lulu.com/patriciaharper

A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE By Patricia Harper

Sarah Morgan arrives on her estranged husband Kevin's doorstep pregnant and homeless, asking him to give her temporary shelter while she finds a roof over her head. Her lover has deserted her and she is desperate. At first he refuses, but says if she would be prepared to work for nothing he would let her and the baby live rent-free over a shop he is opening. The shop is in a seedy, run down part of the city with a high level of immigration, and they are beset by serious problems due to the decay and poor state of the premises. Sarah is terrified of living alone over the shop with Emily, her daughter, but has nowhere to go. She is very much demeaned by Kevin's new love, Julie, but initially helped by Robert, the son of a local electrician. After a seance over the shop one night, a supernatural presence brings terror to Sarah. Stress and squalor eventually take their toll on her health and she is driven to the edge of a breakdown. Will no one come to save her, and will Emily be taken into care? www.lulu.com/patriciaharper

SILLY LILY By Patricia Harper

Growing up after a war, Lillian or "Silly Lily," as the other kids call her, is not allowed to mix with the other kids as her mother thinks they are "common," until one day her father falls seriously ill and in a situation where there is no one else to take care of her she is allowed to enter the homes of two other girls, and starts to learn about life.. Although the book starts in childhood, it continues on into her life, first job, first boyfriend, and her difficulty inequating the romantic stuff of books with the basic, more normal facts of life. She loves then loses a man as awkward as herself, but gets a second chance at happiness... www.lulu.com/patriciaharper

Tuesday, 9 January 2007

GUILT TRIP By Patricia Harper

"Sit down for a minute, and I'll tell you a bit about your boss," Jane offered, and drew up a chair for Susan to sit on where she joined the rest.
Mark was tight, she said, "as a duck's arse." You had to make sure he paid his turn for the drinks, and fetched them. He always forgot birthday cards, and was conveniently somewhere else when collections came round. If there was a gathering at the pub he always got there last after he'd been to the loo, or gone on the scenic route, so that the drinks were in by the time he arrived. He never sent Christmas cards or holiday postcards, and on the one Christmas he'd bought Nichola and Kate a surprise present, they discovered the chocolates he'd bought them were way past the sell by date. They'd sat there, after he'd made his magnificent gesture and gone home on his bike, with tears of laughter running down their cheeks, as they played "chicken" over who was going to eat one first. Turned out in the end there was nothing wrong with them anyway, but it went down on record in the office history. They could have gone on forever, it seemed, with stories about Mark. It was amazing that people seemed to bear him no ill will, and Susan thought he had an air of eccentricity about him. Apparently he was infuriating if you wanted him to defend you in any way. He just caved in, and couldn't be "arsed", and she wondered if this had anything to do with the health worries, not wanting to raise his voice or his blood pressure? He put his head round the door just then, and came in to put a letter in the post basket, and nodded in Susan's direction.
"You do still work here then?" he laughed, looking pointedly at his watch, and Susan replaced her chair and went back out with him to their office.
"Sorry about that," she forced herself to say, not used to having to answer to anyone else.

GUILT TRIP Copyright 2006 Patricia Harper
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