Merham is a well-ordered 1950s seaside town - the kind of town in which everyone knows their place (and those who don't are promptly put in it). Lottie Swift, an evacuee who has grown up with the respectable Holden family, loves Merham, while the Holdens' daughter Celia chafes against the constraints of the town. When a group of bohemians takes over Arcadia, a stark Art Deco house on the seafront, the girls are as drawn to its temptations as Merham's citizens are appalled by them. They set in place a chain of events both within the Holden family and Merham itself which will have longstanding and tragic consequences for all concerned. Now, almost fifty years on, Arcadia is returning to life, and its inhabitants stirring up strong feelings again. And prompting more than one person to look into their own romantic history and ask: Can you ever leave your past behind?
- ISBN10 0340834145
- ISBN13 9780340834145
- Publish Date 1 March 2004 (first published 23 June 2003)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 8 September 2010
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Coronet Books
- Format Paperback (A-Format (178x111 mm))
- Pages 496
- Language English