A Change OF SCENE

Neither Daisy nor Lucinda had realised how swapping lives would change everything

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THE STORY SO FAR

1927. Old school friends Daisy and Lucinda have swapped lives for two weeks. Lucinda stays in Daisy's Norfolk cottage while Daisy moves into Lucinda's London flat. But Daisy finds Lucinda's life far from the glamorous existence she expected.

Lucinda works in a pub to support her writing career, and Lucinda's neighbour Charlie tells Daisy that when he proposed to Lucinda, she headed off to visit Daisy in Norfolk without giving him an answer. Daisy's encounters with Charlie's artistic Bohemian circle remind her of her own hidden passion for painting. Meanwhile, in Norfolk, Lucinda meets Henry, the son of a recently deceased local, who praises Daisy's kindness. He also appears smitten by Daisy.

After a visit from Daisy's landlord, Lucinda discovers Daisy's tea shop is drowning in debt.

She also stumbles upon Daisy's bold, private paintings, which give her an idea that might help to solve her friend's debt problem.

Lucinda had been searching for a needle and thread to sew a button back on to her coat when she discovered the final demands for several utility bills. They were tucked inside the drawer of a table in Daisy's living room. Lucinda paused before taking some of the bills out of the drawer and reading them. Daisy was several weeks late with her electricity and gas payments for the cottage.

Lucinda pushed the notices back into the drawer with a sense of guilt for having pried, but she had done so with good intentions. Her friend was in worse financial trouble than she had first supposed, and Lucinda wanted to help her if she could.

She pondered the situation as she walked to Daisy's tea shop.

If anyone knew the reasons for Daisy's predicament, it would be Betty, the tea shop manageress. In the short time Lucinda had known Betty, she had learnt that the woman knew just about everything about everyone in the village.