Publisher's Synopsis
Charlie lives in a quiet seaside town where the seagulls make more noise than the traffic and there are more lampposts on the streets than people. He has two divorces behind him as well as an adopted daughter and a string of affairs. He drinks a lot, but not too much, smokes but keeps himself fit. He lives on his own with only his conscience for company which he calls Jacaranda Jake. He feels that by giving his conscience a name it becomes a third person and he can deal with his issues objectively. All is going boringly, and uneventfully, well until one day he meets Jessica, a much younger, and very sexy, vision of beauty that he has dreamed about all his life. Somehow they hit it off, and soon Charlie's safe lifestyle is once again heading for torment. Jessica was adopted, and her foster parents take an immediate dislike to Charlie, mainly due to the fact that he is twice her age. Unfortunately for Charlie Jessica's background has many links with his own daughter's adoption. Soon Charlie is fighting with his conscience, Jake, about his relationship with Jessica, but Charlie being Charlie he further complicates his life by finding out that her birth mother is possibly his former lover. He returns to his original home to clarify matters and having done so finds himself, once again, having sex with her. On his return to his south coast home Jessica's adopted mother falls foul of her husband's best friend and Charlie comes to her rescue. So, Charlie has met the girl he thinks is his daughter that he left behind when he left his Merseyside home. He has resumed his relationship with her birth mother, met her adopted mother and found himself sharing his life with his distant past. His life has gone full circle.
