There are only two tragedies in life. One is not getting your heart's desire - and the other? Getting it.

Fourteen-year-old Lucky Khalil is passionate about three things: football, Star Wars and Portia, the girl who works in his grandfather's corner shop. In that order.

While Lucky pursues his girl and his dreams of one day scoring for England, his mother Delphine, the woman who seems to have everything, fantasizes about rediscovering the freedom of her youth. But rekindling a relationship with her father-in-law Zaki is only going to end in disaster . . .

And, as they move closer to their dreams, do they risk losing sight of what's really important?

Praise for Bitter Sweets

`A charming read, hugely enjoyable, brilliantly plotted . . . wears its multiculturalism lightly' Jackie Kay, Chair of the Orange Award for New Writers, 2007

`Witty, thought-provoking, sad and uplifting' Sunday Telegraph