Sheer chance

In the decade of sexual opportunity, Avril Brett decided not to break the rules. After seven years of loyalty to her unfaithful husband Hugh, she is rewarded for her virtue with a picturesque country cottage, a meaningless secretarial job and a desperate longing to become a mother. Faced by the unsettling revelation that her own father is about to marry a much younger woman, Avril realises it is time she lived for herself. Clarity and movement are restored to Avril's still life when she starts a passionate affair with a long-time friend and work colleague. To her shock and delight, she discovers there will be something more lasting to their passing intimacy than expensive dinners and late-night guilt. 'Having a baby was another kind of love affair', somebody once told her. With every day her child grows, so Avril's new-found confidence leads her into another kind of world - exciting, challenging and thrillingly unconventional.