Deborah Moggach weaves together the stories of six different characters from across the globe, each guarding a secret. There’s sixtysomething Petra, living alone in London and longing to find a more satisfying relationship than anything her recent internet dates have offered; her best friend, Bev, and Bev’s husband, Jeremy, who live in west Africa and appear sickeningly happily married; Lorrie, a young wife and mother in Texas who needs to make some serious cash while her husband’s on a tour of duty, and Li-Jing and her husband, Lei, in China, desperate for the baby they can’t conceive. The tangled lives of the first three lie at the heart of the novel, with the likable Petra as the central ballast, though I was eager to find out more about Lorrie. Despite some rather crazy plot twists towards the end, it’s a gentle, easy-reading tale of happenstance and second chances.

Something to Hide is published by Chatto & Windus (£12.99). To buy for £10.39, click here