Before I Knew You

Would you swap houses with a family of strangers? The price you pay might be greater than you think . . . Sophie and Andrew are looking for relief from the daily grind - if not each other - so when a friend puts them in touch with William and Beth, newlyweds looking to swap houses for the summer, it seems a solution of sorts. They find themselves in a stylish Connecticut home, a stone's throw from New York, while William and Beth take over their lived-in family house in South London, ideal for spending time with William's teenaged sons. The weeks away work an unexpected magic for Sophie, who begins to find a sense of happiness . . . although Beth has no such luck and, no longer the centre of William's world, grows increasingly miserable. And so the two marriages - one crushed by the weight of years, one shiny and new - slide into reverse. The intertwining of these lives and hearts begins to have dramatic consequences none of them could have foreseen . . . and all are powerless to stop.

Amanda Brookfield was born in 1960 and educated at Oxford University. She began her career working in advertising and then as a freelance journalist in Argentina. Her twelve previous novels include Marriage Games, Relative Love, The Simple Rules of Love and Life Begins. She is married with two sons and lives in London.