On the eve of her fortieth birthday, Ophelia Dormandy - overworked barrister, guilt-ridden wife and mother - decides to make amends. Tonight, she thinks, after months of late nights at her desk, she is going to return home early, cook a special supper and maybe wear that red dress Patrick once said he liked...
But Ophelia is in for a shock. After 20 years of marriage, her husband announces he's been having an affair, and leaves. With her home life imploding, her work soon follows suit - before long, she's broke, drinking too much and falling for a client of questionable guilt. And then she is faced with the most serious trial of her life, when a disgruntled defendant comes back to haunt her - threatening everything that she holds dear ...
Shifting between the male-dominated world of wig and gown in London's Inner Temple and fraught motherhood in Camberwell, Ophelia in Pieces is a book for every woman trying to juggle work and home life, worried that they are failing at both. But ultimately it is about the painful, character-building business of having to pick up the pieces when everything seems utterly broken.
