Sleeping Around

by Julie Highmore

Robin is shocked but thrilled when Hannah arrives on his Oxford doorstep with a two year old and a suitcase, and announces that Freddie is his son. Her husband Marcus was less happy to learn about Hannah's fling with Robin, but several months on he's longing to spend some time with the little boy he thought was his. So he takes on a house-sit a few streets away.

Jo, over the road, is intrigued by the newcomer, and quickly finds an excuse to learn more, but Hannah is also wondering if Marcus is the one, after all...

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

After having her three children, Julie became a mature student at first Westminster College, then Oxford Brookes University, where she gained a degree in English. As part of the course, she studied creative writing with Philip Pullman, who encouraged her to continue with her writing after graduation. This she did, and her published work includes nine rom-com novels, and more recently, a crime fiction series for The Book Folks. The Missing American - the first in the series - features the somewhat flawed, Oxford-based private investigator, Edie Fox; a single mother and very young grandmother who inadvertently gets her precious family caught up in her first big case. Although her recent novels have ventured into some dark places, Julie manages to inject humour into the stories without diminishing the danger of situations Edie finds herself in.

Between graduating and becoming a published author, Julie taught English as a foreign language, and for several years was a reader for Oxford University Press’s Children’s Books.

She enjoys music, binge-watching a good TV series, country strolls, doing the New York Times crossword, and hanging out with her husband and ever-expanding family. With two Edie books now in production and a third following in Spring 2023, Julie is hoping to continue with the series while also exploring other crime-fiction paths.

Reviews

[LaFleurBleue · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's like a game of musical chairs: characters swirling around and ending in bed with a new partner, or the old one, doing nothing with their lives, living from one day to the next with no aim or purpose and all of them being in their 30s and 40s. The key character in the story is Hannah, one of the most loathsome characters I've come across in a while. While engaged to Marcus, she had an affair with Robin, whom she never even liked; she went through the wedding even though she knew she was pregnant most probably from Robin. When the child turned 18 months or 2 years old, she left Marcus and tried to create a new home with Robin whom she despised every day. The others are in fact not much better and do not manage to salvage this disaster.
I kept wondering where this book was aiming at, why it had been written.
No clue, but no need to read it for anyone.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good!!

[Lesley Book Lover · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first book I have read by Julie Highmore, I enjoyed it, and will certainly read more by this author.

[Alana · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice, easy read (:

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good read, highly recommended

[Kirsty Leydon · Rating 4 out of 5]

gripping story