Windmill Hill

''Rich in charm and surprises'' GUARDIAN''A transporting and entertaining read'' THE TIMES''A triumph. Funny, mysterious, moving and ingenious - a Shakespearian knot of happiness all round'' PHILIP PULLMAN One night in a remote hunting lodge with a Hollywood director causes an international scandal that wrecks Astrid''s glittering stage career, and her marriage. Her ex-husband, the charismatic Scottish actor Magnus Fellowes, goes on to find global fame, while Astrid retreats to a disintegrating Sussex windmill. Now 82, she lives there still, with a troupe of dachshunds and her long-suffering friend, Mrs Baker, who came to clean twenty years ago and never left. But the past is catching up with them. There has been an ''Awful Incident'' at the windmill; the women are in shock. Then Astrid hears that Magnus, now on his death bed, is writing a tell-all memoir. Outraged, she sets off for Scotland, determined to stop him. Windmill Hill is the story of two very different women, both with painful pasts, and their eccentric friendship - deep, enduring, and loyal to the last. Praise for Lucy Atkins:''Brilliantly observed. I loved it'' CLAIRE FULLER''A truly memorable story, I loved it'' JOANNA CANNON''An intriguing, brilliantly told story'' NINA STIBBE''Charming and shocking . . . Never fails to delight'' MICK HERRON''A deft display of Lucy Atkins''s talents as a delicate observer of human nature'' ARIFA AKBAR''Compulsive and skilfully woven'' CLARE CHAMBERS''Intelligent and gripping'' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING''Mesmerising . . . beautifully written'' LITERARY REVIEW''Cleverly constructed'' WOMAN & HOME''It was an utter joy to relish Atkins''s wonderfully skilled and unobtrusive writing'' SARAH PERRY ''Sly, witty and gripping . . . I loved it'' NAOMI ALDERMAN ''A sinewy, supple and gorgeously satisfying triumph'' LUCY MANGAN