The Tennis Party

It was Patrick's idea that they should have the tennis party. After all, he has the perfect setting -- the White House, bought out of his bonuses as an investment banker. He hasn't actually told Caroline, his brash and beautiful wife, what the real reason for the party is. She is glad to welcome Stephen and Annie, their impoverished former neighbours, less glad to see newly wealthy Charles and his aristocratic wife Cressida, and barely able to tolerate the deadly competitive Don and Valerie.

But as the first ball is served over the net it signals the start of two days of tempers, shocks, revelations, the arrival of an uninvited guest, and the realization that the weekend is about anything but tennis.

SOPHIE KINSELLA is an international bestselling writer and former financial journalist. She is the author of the number one bestsellers Can You Keep A Secret?, The Undomestic Goddess, Remember Me? and Twenties Girl, as well as the hugely popular Shopaholic novels, the first of which is now the hit Hollywood movie Confessions of a Shopaholic. As MADELEINE WICKHAM she has written seven bestselling novels. She lives in London with her husband and children.