The Accidental Father - Tapa blanda

Alex Taylor is a lucky man. He has a large house in the London suburbs, a well-paid job and a beautiful wife. On the surface everything is rosy. But it isn't.

He is bored by his job as the chief accountant at a small chain of travel agents, has a love/hate marriage, and drinks more than he should. He and his wife Amanda, who's an estate agent, communicate by leaving each other notes stuck to the refrigerator door. They only have sex when they're drunk. They have no children. He dreams of leaving his job to open a coffee shop.

But then his world changes. A solicitor tells him that he's been left something in an ex-girlfriends will - a daughter, Caitlin. A daughter he never knew he had and who has no other relatives. On the same day he discovers that his wife is sleeping with his boss. Suddenly he is alone with a massive new responsibility.

And part of the deal with social services is that Caitlin is going into 'a stable family environment'. So he hires Erica, a single Mum whom Caitlin takes a liking to. He gives up his job and starts to set -up the coffee shop that he has always dreamed of running - with Caitlin alongside him.

But his new life is not easy. How will Alex dodge social services, form a relationship with Caitlin - a thirteen-year-old stranger - and somehow find it within himself to put down new roots and rebuild his life from scratch?