The Mistake I Made

Roz is a conscientious physiotherapist and single mother working in the Lake District. Her ex-husband, Winston, has left her with crippling money problems.

This coupled with a failed business means that she is only just keeping her head above water. Needless to say Winston is hopeless, he gives her no help or financial support and she has a son, nine year-old George, who is the centre of her world.

The bailiffs arrive and take everything she has, except the beds and then things come to a head with the threat of eviction. She has no money and two weeks to sort something out...

Then Roz meets Scott Elias, a rich, handsome man. Scott is the husband of her sister’s friend. He makes Roz an offer she can’t refuse. But she has made a mistake, a mistake that snowballs out of control...

Paula Daly builds a realistic, complex character in Roz, she is amoral, dishonest and naïve, but her decisions are all the more believable because of this. One wants to shake her at times as each bad decision leads to another. The disingenuous Roz has made a series of bad choices before the book starts so it does make one wonder which "mistake she made" is the one in the title?

The superb writing and characterisation makes for a good read and the sense of place is first-rate. The reader is drawn into the story as it slowly darkens, riveted by the premise of the book. The pages just have to be turned right to the end.