IMOGEN PARKER

It is 1953. At the Coronation party at the Palace Hotel, two lives are about to change forever. Claudia - 16, beautiful, fragile and an outsider in this small seaside town - finds herself talking to Michael, also a newcomer, who is struggling with a rocky marriage. Their instant, irresistible attraction to one another will have consequences which stretch far into the future. Against the ever changing backdrop of events ranging from grey post-war austerity to technicolour rock and roll, from Suez to the summer of love, from Bill Haley to The Beatles, from the buttoned-up glamour of the 50s to the rebellious freedom of the 60s, "The Time of Our Lives" is an intensely passionate love story and a captivating chronicle of the times.

Lydias got loads to be grateful for a little house, a job she loves, a reliable boyfriend she is going to marry so why isnt she sure if shes happy? The question is: 1.Is it right that at the age of 37, the high spot of her week is the local pub quiz? 2.Why does she always end up buying celebrity magazines when shes gone into the newsagent for a serious broadsheet? 3.How come the only person in the world she can really talk to is someone she has never met? 4.Who is he, anyway? Teachers are supposed to know the answers, but Lydia doesnt have a clue.