NEW RELEASE
Inheritance - Tara Palmer-Tomkinson (2010)
When IT girl Lyric Charlton is exposed as a drug user, her family decides it is in her best interest to send her off to rehab. But they are unaware that this decision will start a series of events which will change all of their lives forever. When Lyric returns from her stint in a US rehab facility, she is drug free and a completely new person. However, soon rumours start spreading that Lyric is still using and this creates a rift between her and her best friend, Treeva. On top of that, Lyric has lost her boyfriend, Ralph, who first introduced her to drugs but is now too toxic for her to be around. All of these dilemmas are going on, while in the background of the Charlton family, there is a dark horse who is trying to bring Lyric down to prevent her learning a secret so big that it will shake the whole family to the core. Lyric, however, is oblivious to this, and as a result her life is in danger. In a world where drugs are always available, money is of no concern, and trips to exotic locales are regular events, will Lyric be able to stay clean, discover the secret and find out who wants her dead before it's too late? This is a story filled with romance, suspense, drama and over-the-top glitz and glamour. Lyric somehow is so utterly sweet, beautiful and kind-hearted that you root for her all the way through. Through there are some issues with the timeline - it can be a bit confusing - overall this is an amazing debut with shades of the author's own life and is sure to skyrocket up to the bestseller list. (AS)
British TV presenter and IT Girl Tara Palmer-Tomkinson's first novel Inheritance is about - yes, you guessed it, the whirlwind life of an It Girl. The summary says: "Notorious party-loving It Girl Lyric Charlton has it all - the lineage, the looks and the lifestyle. A moneyed upbringing at the heart of one of the upper classes' most well-connected families, a finishing school education and an address book bursting with the world's most powerful and high-profile people has crowned her the glamorous poster girl for the aristocratic glitterati. But when her doomed relationship with suave boy-about-town Ralph Conway means she takes the good times too far, she is packed off to rehab by her worried parents - and the public shame and private humiliation that follow means Lyric's only option seems to be to retreat into sober obscurity. But what no one can predict is the dramatic chain of events her Texan exile sets in motion. For Lyric's treatment is the start of much more than a life as an ex-coke addict. It's the catalyst that exposes a complex web of deceit and betrayal - and leads Lyric on an increasingly dangerous quest to find the final missing piece of the jigsaw of her life." TPT, who has battled her own drug problems, has previously written a self-help guide called The Naughty Girl's Guide to Life with Sharon Marshall, whose Tabloid Girl memoir was in May. Inheritance, the first in a two-book deal with Pan Macmillan, hits shelves in October.