When Eloise arrives in a quiet Hampshire village with her guitar and her secrets, she stirs envy, fascination, and a storm of gossip. To Maisie, a dutiful solicitor's wife, Eloise is everything she's not-dazzling, independent, free. And when the village's self-styled queen Rhona turns the community against her, Maisie is the only one to stand by her.
As envy and gossip take hold, Eloise becomes the target of a campaign of bullying, harassment and lies. Maisie is the only one brave enough to defend her, even as her husband Phil and his formidable mother disapprove. Then a theft accusation brings an astonishing truth to light, a reporter arrives on Eloise's doorstep, and long buried secrets are exposed that threaten to change all their lives.
Set in the 1970s, Too Close to the Sun is a tender, compelling story of envy, redemption, and the quiet rebellion of an ordinary woman daring to live on her own terms.