Marrying The Mistress [Paperback]

"'What's gone past', he said 'is not just an advocate, any old lady advocate. What's gone past is his Honour's totty'."

And what's going past is the life of Guy Stockdale, a 62-year-old judge, who has been married forever, has two sons--Simon and Alan--and three grandchildren. For the past seven years, he's also had a mistress; Merrion Palmer is intelligent, attractive and half Guy's age, which also makes her younger than both Simon and Alan. Her dad died when she was a toddler and she's well aware that Guy is something of a father substitute. For years the role of mistress has suited her but then, suddenly, this style of relationship isn't enough for either of them. They've both had enough of sneaking around and avoiding people, so Guy has momentously made up his mind to leave his wife Laura and marry Merrion.

Marrying the Mistress dives into the shock waves that buffet the Stockdale family after Guy leaves Laura. The novel addresses the question of how his sons are going to cope, the explosive opinions of his forthright daughter-in-law Carrie and what his teenage grandchildren make of it all. Can any of them avoid taking sides? Should they? And what about the abandoned wife Laura, a woman apparently so long-sufferingly self-sacrificing she makes Mother Teresa look selfish?

From queen of the aga saga Joanna Trollope comes a dexterous portrayal of the causes and effects of marital breakdown: the stresses, the battle of wills, the bitterness and personal growth, the renegotiation of relationships--and an exposure of the depths to which the moral high ground can sink. --Lisa Gee --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

‘Hodge is at home in the middle-class milieu of herbaceous borders and china cups, but she also works brilliantly to betray feelings in the voices of family members in a crisis.’
Daily Telegraph

‘A gripping read – As shrewdly observant of psychological and domestic detail as anything she has written.’
Daily Telegraph on Other People’s Children.

“A novel to raise passions, beautifully read by Patricia Hodge.”
Express on Other People’s Children.

Merrion Palmer has been Judge Guy Stockdale's mistress for the last seven years and his wife and two grown-up sons know absolutely nothing about her.Up until now, Guy and Merrion have enjoyed a blissfully, uncomplicated relationship in stolen moments in Merrion's flat, and to the rest of the world, Guy has played the part of model husband, father and grandfather.

But now the time has come for things to change.Guy has become conscious of wasted years and he wants to share his relationship with Merrion with the world.He wants, dammit, to marry her.Yet he is quite unprepared for the storm that will follow ...

'Clever, clever, clever...probes right to the heart of a typically modern dilemma' Daily Mail

Merrion Palmer has been Judge Guy Stockdale's mistress for the last seven years and his wife and two grown-up sons know absolutely nothing about her. Guy and Merrion have enjoyed a blissfully uncomplicated relationship in stolen moments in Merrion's flat, and to the rest of the world, Guy has played the part of model husband, father and grandfather.

But now the time has come for things to change. Conscious of the passing years, Guy doesn't want to keep Merrion a secret any more. He wants to share her with the world.He wants, dammit, to marry her.Yet he is quite unprepared for the storm that will follow...

'A swift and riveting read' The Times

'This is Trollope at her best' Woman and Home

Joanna Trollope is the author of eagerly awaited and sparklingly readable novels often centred around the domestic nuaunces and dilemmas of life in present-day England. She has also written a number of historical novels and Britannia's Daughters, a study of women in the British Empire.

Joanna Trollope was born in Gloucestershire and now lives in London. She was appointed OBE in the 1996 Queen's Birthday Honours List for services to literature.