Aren't the days long gone when you hooked a husband to acquire a life? What can a man give Fiona that she can't give herself?

She voluntarily places herself on the shelf - for good.

But there's nothing more unsettling to the miserably married than a woman who trades in happy-ever-after for the chance of a new beginning. Take Jill. She's convinced that Fiona's announcement is just another ploy to help herself to a husband - Jill's.

At the same time Claire, Fiona's best friend, has grown weary of coping alone. Secretly, she's arranged a marriage for herself. It ain't love, but when you're hurtling towards middle age, childfree and spouse-less, companionship is good enough . . . Or is it?

Yvonne Roberts' wise and witty novel wickedly proposes that the trouble with single women today - is that no one can quite predict what they might do next . . .

While the trouble with love - is that it still holds all the best tricks.