'The perfect pick-me-up for summer!' -- Phillipa Ashley

'Like a complex gin, brimming with botanicals, this delicious book offers a giant swig of a story full of characters, wit and warmth' -- Jules Wake

When life gives you lemons, make gin and tonic!

It's been a tough year for empty-nester Jen in her seaside Devon town; her kids have left for pastures new and her husband's left for another woman.

Home alone with her eccentric home-brewing father and a Jack Russell, she is just getting her life back on track when her job at the local museum is threatened by her first love and nemesis, Councillor David Barton, who intends to sell the beautiful old building to a pub chain. But help is at hand from her colleagues: Jackie, a former Greenham Common warrior; Tish, a flamboyant historian; and Carol, mega-flirt. Plus newcomer and former campaigner, Tom. Who happens to be a widower. And quite sexy. And also the owner of a Jack Russell.

The key to saving the day and putting the town back on the tourist map could lie just within reach - when reaching for a cold gin and tonic, that is. Mother's Ruin to some, gin is the making of Jen when she comes together with her friends and family to save the museum and open an artisan distillery in the basement.

With its debauched local history of smuggling, can gin be the town's saviour and bring love back into Jen's life?