Лучшие книги Джуди Эстли

Что лучше - быть толстой и счастливой или худой и несчастной? Нелегкий выбор, особенно для женщины. Даже обладательница самой совершенной фигуры время от времени впадает в настоящую манию - манию похудения. И ничто - ни уговоры близких, ни зеркало, ни отвратительные диетические коктейли - не остановит женщину, если она решила взойти на голгофу диеты. А уж если похудеть нужно к конкретному сроку, чтобы с честью встретить свою извечную соперницу, то женщина готова на любые жертвы.
Именно это происходит с Джей, хозяйкой красивого, хотя и очень безалаберного дома. В гости к ней должна нагрянуть ее кузина Дельфина, которая всегда была самой красивой, самой стройной, самой аккуратной и самой элегантной. А Джей была самой... обычной. Со дня их последней встречи минуло уж десять лет, у Джей подросли не только дети, но, увы, бока и бедра, а прекрасная и стервозная Дельфина наверняка осталась все так же стройна и красива. Выход один - срочно похудеть! И в этом случае цель точно оправдывает средства. “Размер имеет значение” - правдивая книга о том, что даже самая миролюбивая женщина способна объявить войну до последнего патрона, если по ту сторону фронта смертельный враг - лишние килограммы.

It is almost a year since Sean and Thea met and it's been a roller-coaster ride: they're getting married on Christmas Day!

Neither Thea or Sean want a big fuss - a simple wedding, with Christmas lights and just a few sprigs of mistletoe for decoration is all they need. But before they know it, things begin to get complicated. Trying to manage a long-distance relationship in the build-up to their Christmas wedding is one thing, but as one challenge after another comes their way, the happy couple begin to wonder if they'll ever make it down the aisle . . .

Thea’s parents decide to host a big family Christmas in a house by the sea… even though they are, in fact, about to split up. Thea herself is newly single - her sister and brother are both settled, with children, homes and a future. But Thea’s boyfriend has ditched her in favour of his pedigree dogs, and Thea can’t decide whether or not she minds. There will be copious food and drink, holly and mistletoe, lots of bracing walks and a wintry barbecue on the beach. If it seems an odd way to celebrate the final break-up of a marriage and the Moving On to new partners, no- one is saying so. But then no-one had anticipated that the new partners might actually turn up to complicate the sleeping arrangements. As Cornwall experiences the biggest snowstorm in living memory, the festive atmosphere comes under some strain. Will Thea manage to find some happiness for herself? Will the mistletoe work its magic on them all?

The residents of the Close were much concerned with crime - preventing it, that is. With all those out-of-work teenagers on the nearby council estate hanging around, stealing, joy-riding and goodness knows what else, it was just as well that Paul Mathieson was setting up a Neighbourhood Watch scheme. Not that the inhabitants of the Close did not have their own little activities, of course, but these were hardly the same thing. If Jenny and Alan's daughter was caught travelling on the underground without a ticket, and their son was doing a little experimenting with certain substances, and Laura didn't see the need to declare her earnings from hiring out her house to a film crew, and Jenny drove home only just over the legal limit - well, these were quite different matters, not to be compared with what went on in the Estate. And then there was Jenny's discovery, when she advertised flute lessons, that she could work up quite a nice little earner in a rather unexpected way... As the leafy London street resounded to the efforts of its citizens to keep crime at bay, Jenny realised that it was her marriage, rather than her property, that needed watching.

Sara's mother told her that she shouldn’t marry Conrad, that the 25-year age gap between them would be their downfall. Conrad, a famous painter, has decided that it would be good to die before he gets seriously old, and so spends his time sorting out his chaotic life. Meanwhile Sara—when not teaching art at a local college—finds that she has plenty of male company in the form of other people’s husbands, all of whom are just good friends to her. But there’s one man that she somehow never gets around to mentioning to Conrad, and suddenly her little secret begins to impact the rest of her life.

At Christmas, Anything Can Happen...
Thea's parents decide to host a big family Christmas in a house by the sea... even though they are, in fact, about to split up. And while her sister and brother are both settled, Thea herself is newly single - her boyfriend has ditched her in favour of his pedigree dogs, and Thea can't decide whether or not she minds.
There will be copious food and drink, holly and mistletoe, lots of bracing walks and a wintry barbecue on the beach. If it seems an odd way to celebrate the final break-up of a marriage and the Moving On to new partners, no-one is saying so. But then no-one had anticipated that the new partners might actually turn up to complicate the sleeping arrangements...
As Cornwall experiences the biggest snowstorm in living memory, the festive atmosphere comes under some strain. Will Thea manage to find some happiness for herself? Will the mistletoe work its magic on them all?