The Clematis Tree
by Ann Widdecombe
Category: Fiction

A powerful novel about a family, and how their lives are torn apart in a single, devastating moment. Mark and Claire seem an ideal couple. He is an accountant, she the daughter of a successful businessman. They live in a comfortable middle-class village in Surrey. Then, during a party for their daughter Pippa's baptism, their son Jeremy is knocked down on the road outside. It is their worst nightmare, something they thought could never happen, and the consequences will affect each one of them more than they could possibly imagine. What is Claire's guilty secret, and can her wealthy, self-made father help? Will Mark, desperate to escape, have the nerve to leave? And how will Pippa be affected by the turmoil that began on the day of her own christening?The once ideal marriage is troubled by the stress, the pressure caused by Jeremy's state of health. But is Jeremy the glue that holds the marriage together, however tenuously?