Pearls

Description

They were beautiful. They were rich. They were famous. They were powerful. Catherine Bourton: With a face like the Mona Lisa she storms the men-only bastions of London's square mile to become the world's most bewitching tycoon. Monty Bourton: Internationally feted rock star whose raw sexuality and heartbreaking voice expose her obsessive need for love. Princess Ayeshah: A woman with secrets, a dark, mysterious queen of the night who catered for men's desires with the ruthlessness of one who understood the degradations of lust - and used them Then one morning the Bourton sisters each wake up to find a priceless pearl hidden under their pillows. Why? So begins a journey back into the past that will change their lives . . . `Readers will devour it' Independent

Celia Brayfield is a novelist and cultural commentator. She is the author of nine novels. The latest, Wild Weekend explores the tensions in a Suffolk village in homage to Oliver Goldmsith's She Stoops to Conquer. To explore suburban living, she created the community of Westwick and explored mid-life manners in Mr Fabulous And Friends, and the environmental implications of urbanisation in Getting Home. She has often juxtaposed historical and contemporary settings, notably eighteenth century Spain in Sunset, pre-revolutionary St Petersburg in White Ice and Malaysia in the time of World War II in Pearls. Four of her novels have been optioned by major US, UK or French producers. Her non-fiction titles include two standard works on the art of writing: Arts Reviews (Kamera Books, 2008) and Bestseller (Fourth Estate, 1996.) Her most recent is Deep France (Pan, 2004) a journal of a year she spent writing in south-west France. She has served on the management committee of The Society of Authors and judged national literary awards including the Betty Trask Award and the Macmillan Silver PEN Prize. A former media columnist, she contributes to The Times, BBC Radio 4 and other national and international media.