Cathy Scarlet and Tom Feather have decided to create the best catering company in Dublin. They have talent, premises — even a few contacts, But not evervone is as pleascd by the idea of ‘Scarlct Feather’ as they are. Tom's parents wanted him to follow in the family business, and Cathy's motherin-law believes Cathy should be at home. Yet neither Cathy's marriage, nor Tom's relationship with his girlfriend, are everything they appear to be, and Cathy and Tom are struggling to maintain their emotional ties amidst the catering triumphs and disasters of Scarlet Feather.

‘What is Maeve Binchy's magic? Every time she publishes a novel the race is on to the armchair or the poolside seat, telephones fall eerily silent ... Her great gift is to suck her reader into the drama of evervday lives without fuss . . . [and] keeping up a cracking pace’