Paula O'Neill, beloved granddaughter of Emma Harte and the guardian of her vast business empire, believes all that Emma left to the family is secure. However, beneath the surface tension is mounting and sibling rivalry brewing.

Into this volatile mix walks Evan Hughes, a young American fashion designer. Her grandmother's dying wish was that Evan find Emma Harte. But Emma has been dead for thirty years...

Troubled by Evan's presence, and her uncanny resemblance to the family, Paula turns to Emma's war-time diaries.

Emma Harte comes vividly back to life. It is London during the Blitz. As bombs drop, sirens wail and her sons go off to war, Emma's trademark resilience, will power and strength all come to the fore. And as the pages unfurl, Paula discovers the secret Emma took to the grave.

Evan Hughes, Emma's American great-grandaughter, is trying to integrate into the powerful Harte family. She is caught between her estranged parents, her new family, and new love. Meanwhile a dangerous enemy hovers in the background.

Tessa Longden, Evan's cousin, is battling her husband for custody of their daughter, Adele. When Adele suddenly goes missing, Tessa seeks her sister Linnet's help.

Linnet O'Neill, the most brilliant businesswoman of the four great-granddaughters, is the natural heir to her mother, Paula. But her glittering future at the helm of the vast Harte empire means many sacrifices.

India Standish, the traditionalist in the family, falls in love with a famous British artist from a working-class background. Madly in love, India is determined to marry him.

When Evan discovers letters from Emma Harte to her grandmother, the story is swept back to the 1950s. But it is the revelations in Emma's letters to her grandmother that give Evan a new perspective and help to set her free from her own past.

The conclusion to the extraordinary tale of Emma Harte, the original Woman of Substance, and the powerful Harte clan...

Love, passion, duty and honour collide as the members of this extraordinary dynasty try to protect their family name at all costs.

Linnet O'Neill, heir apparent to Emma Harte and all she created, is determined to bring the Harte empire into the twenty-first century. But she and her mother Paula, head of the dynasty, lock horns. When Paula falls dangerously ill, Linnet is suddenly alone at the helm, just as her great-grandmother Emma once was.

Linnet finds herself following in the footsteps of the original woman of substance as she battles to save what Emma created - upsetting her sister Tessa, who believes herself to be the rightful heir, in the process.

Meanwhile, Emma's American great-granddaughter Evan faces her own headache. Her adopted sister Angharad is making trouble in the family, latching on to Jonathan Ainsley - deadly enemy of the Hartes - and so putting them all in danger.

And when grief and heartbreak strike the family, all of Emma's great-granddaughters are tested to the limit as the extraordinary story of the Harte family takes another astonishing turn ..

At thirty-one Laura Valiant is a successful art historian who runs her own art advisory and acquisitions company. She and her husband Douglas Casson, a Wall Street lawyer, have a happy marriage marred only by the fact that they are still childless. But Laura’s life changes radically in 1997, when her best friend from childhood, Claire Benson, tells her she is dying. Claire, who is divorced, begs Laura to become her daughter Natasha’s guardian upon her death. Laura agrees and brings the fifteen-year-old girl to live with them in New York City after Claire dies. It is then that Laura’s troubles begin – with Natasha, with the girl’s father and grandmother, who suddenly reappear in her life, and with Douglas. Laura’s love and trust in her husband are shaken when she discovers he has a secret life apart from her. But it is her problems which force her to examine her own life, and this sets her on a path that inevitably leads her to a series of shattering truths. These revelations give Laura the chance to start a whole new life which promises to give her the happiness and fulfilment she craves.

Sebastian, the fifty-six-year-old patriarch of the Locke clan, is handsome, charismatic, a man of immense charm and intelligence. He heads up the philanthropic Locke Foundation, funded by the vast family fortune built by his forefathers. Committed to relieving the suffering of those in genuine need, Locke travels the globe, personally giving away millions a year to the poor, the sick, and the victims of natural disasters and wars. He is seen as a beacon of light in today's darkly violent world. That is why the police are so baffled when Sebastian is found dead in mysterious circumstances. Has he been murdered, and if so who would want to kill the world's greatest philanthropist? Could such an upstanding man have enemies?

Vivienne Trent, an American journalist, met Locke as a child, married him, divorced him, but stayed close to him. Aware that there was another side to this engimatic man, she sets out to find the truth about his death and about Locke himself.

Meredith Stratton, at forty-four the owner of six elegant international inns, is about to celebrate her daughter's engagement. At this seemingly happy time in her life she begins to suffer from a strange illness that baffles everyone. Her doctor cannot find a physical cause for her debilitating symptoms, and, desperate for answers, she seeks the help of a psychiatrist. Through therapy Meredith peels back the layers of her life to discover the truth behind her most careful creation - herself. Determined to get well, Meredith traces her roots back to another
country where she learns about childhood experiences that dramatically changed her life. What she discovers is not only the key to the past but to her future happiness and fulfilment as a woman.

Moving from the Connecticut countryside, the busy streets and suites of London, Paris and New York, to the pastoral beauty of a chateau in the Loire, Her Own Rules is an exciting and suspenseful novel about secrets, survival, redemption and love.