After the Andertons - Softcover

"....Jude was in the kitchen. As Danny came through the front door he could see her at the table, the newspaper spread out before her, coffee going cold in her mug and the fog of her current smoke curling its way through the house. As she saw him she stubbed it out. “You’re late. Local Election special?” “You might say that.” He would tell her about the bizarre offer of the Lottery and she would sort it out for him, straighten all the pieces in his head and put him right on everything, because that’s what she had always done. Danny leaned against the table, felt light-headed, sick even, as he spoke. But she did not say what he had thought she would. She had stopped smoking and looked at him very directly, even more directly than she usually looked at him, his wife's eyes, generally speaking, being x-rays into his soul. “Danny...” he couldn’t remember the last time she’d called him by his name, “ Do what has to be done.” After the Andertons arrive in the small market town of Wolf's Hill the Council Aldermen know nothing will ever be the same again. Forced by circumstance to do a bad thing for a good reason the five friends vow to take better care of their hometown. They instigate The Wishlist, a process of vetting prospective incomers to ensure a positive future for the town. If you want to live in Wolf's Hill you must bring something to the community table. Five years on, the Alderman are within reach of their Utopian dream. Or are they? As Fate brings love, deceit and double dealing to town so the Aldermen must once more take drastic action to protect their dream.