Never Greener

By Ruth Jones Bantam Press, 416pp, £12.99

The debut novel from scriptwriter and actress Ruth Jones,

star of Stella and Gavin & Stacey, Never

Greener is about second chances in relationships and whether you can ever really put the past behind you. When she is 22, Kate has a passionate affair with a happily married man called Callum, which ends in heartbreak. Seventeen years later, she is a successful actress, married to gallery owner Matt and with a young daughter, when she meets Callum again, and decides to pursue the love of her life. Jones writes a very human portrait of messy marriages – how the heart sometimes wants what the heart wants, and how irrational desire can sometimes prevent us from understanding the value of what we already have. ■