POPULAR FICTION

AFTER THE SNOW by Susannah Constantine (HQ £12.99)

THE blonde half of trinny and susannah has moved into fiction. this touching, atmospheric story of esme, a young girl with a troubled mother, has echoes of i Capture the Castle about it.

the scottish stately home setting is beautifully rendered, all winding stone staircases and shadowy galleries.

its mystery and drama echo the mystery and drama of what is going on with Diana, esme’s mother. she is either the life and soul or lost in her own thoughts. is she having an affair? if so, with whom?

the action takes place over a snowbound, upmarket sixties Christmas; festive drinks at the castle, the Boxing Day meet — all are described in fascinating detail for aficionados of upper-class manners and customs. A star cameo from princess Margaret is great fun.

SECRETS OF CAVENDON by Barbara Taylor Bradford

(HarperCollins £16.99) THOSE joining the Cavendon series at this juncture (1949) might, like me, be initially confused as to who is who.

But stick with it and you’ll soon be happily following the adventures of the aristocratic ingham ladies: rising star photographer Victoria, risen film star Alicia and top couturier Cecily, who’s also chatelaine of Cavendon (a sort of Chatsworth).

it takes a while to get going, but a nice romance and a nasty one form the centre of the action. Alicia’s wild about her sexy producer Adam, but is he all he seems?

At the same time, Victoria’s challenging commission leads to love with a wounded war hero.

Meanwhile, can Cecily save her clothes business, and Cavendon into the bargain?

A glamorous easy read packed with period detail in which, as ever with BTB, strong women are centre stage.

THE MAID’S ROOM by Fiona Mitchell

(Hodder £16.99) MITCHELL lived in singapore and saw first-hand the downtrodden, exploited lives of Filipino maids. the result is this passionate debut, in which Jules moves to the colony with her husband and enters the world of alpha-male bankers’ wives. it’s all book clubs, cocktails and swimming pools, but everyone’s as miserable as sin.

there’s more gloom below stairs, where maids tala and Dolly are not only under attack from abusive employers, but under siege online from a cruel, racist blog.

When tala fights back with a counter-blog called Maid hacker, what will be the result?

this powerful novel is pretty bleak, but there are sunny patches and plenty of breezy satire.

it paints an unforgettable picture of how, in the here and now, some haves can treat the have-nots. you’ll be rooting for feisty tala all the way.