City Woman by Patricia Scanlan (Bantam, £5.99 in UK)

The city girls are back, and as this bestselling sequel opens, Devlin is risking the fortune she has made through her chain of…

The city girls are back, and as this bestselling sequel opens, Devlin is risking the fortune she has made through her chain of health and fitness centres, Caroline is trying to summon up the courage to leave her gay husband and Maggie, now a published author, is contemplating - gasp - having an affair. Oh, the dilemmas of contemporary Ireland. But, hey, this is romantic fiction, and it's hardly giving the game away to tell you that by the end of City Woman, everybody ends up with a partner, a deep tan and a buoyant future. If Patricia Scanlan ruled the world, by gum, we could all sleep safe in our beds.

Arminta Wallace

Arminta Wallace

Arminta Wallace is a former Irish Times journalist