Christmas at Claridge’s

The best presents can’t be wrapped

This was where her dreams drifted to if she didn’t blot her nights out with drink; this was where her thoughts settled if she didn’t fill her days with chat. She remembered this tiny, remote foreign village on a molecular level and the sight of it soaked into her like water into sand, because this was where her old life had ended and her new one had begun.

Portobello - home to the world-famous street market, Notting Hill Carnival and Clem Alderton. She’s the queen of the scene, the girl everyone wants to be or be with. But beneath the morning-after makeup, Clem is keeping a secret, and when she goes too far one reckless night she endangers everything - her home, her job and even her adored brother’s love.

Portofino - a place of wild beauty and old-school glamour. Clem has been here once before and vowed never to return. But when a hansome stranger asks Clem to restore a neglected villa, it seems like the answer to her problems - if she can just face up to her past.

Claridge’s - at Christmas. Clem is back in London working on a special commission for London’s grandest hotel. But is this really where her heart lies?

PRAISE FOR KAREN SWAN

Deliciously glamorous, irresistibly romantic … Hello!

Hide indoors with a glass of wine and lose yourself in this Heat

I loved it … I was caught on page one and didn’t put it down until I finished it Liz Fenwick, author of The Cornish House

Sheer escapism Bella magazine