The Birds, the Bees and Other Secrets (New Writing) - Tapa dura

It is the early Sixties, and thirteen-year old Cassandra Fitzpatrick is growing up in a household full of waifs and strays and general misfits. Despite her unorthodox home life, however, she is generally content - until something happens to her that turns her life upside-down. Cass's unhappiness deepens when she wins a scholarship to boarding school and is torn away from all she knows and loves - especially her adored, if wildly unconventional, mother. In time, Cass begins to settle down, but accustomed though she is to her mother's eccentricities, even she is not prepared for the announcement Mrs Fitzpatrick is about to make. The Bird, the Bees and Other Secrets is the story of how one woman comes to terms with her extraordinary past and eventually finds happiness.

Frances Garrood has worked in nursing and as a Relate counsellor. She lives with her husband in Wiltshire. Her first novel, Dead Ernest , was published in 2007.