Frayed

Having made it out of Australia, Sammy and her kids Lenny and Tess live in a tiny London flat while she frantically tries to prove that her lawyer, Rufus, stole her house. Barely able to make ends meet working in ‘exhaust management’ (she’s a secretary in a muffler repair shop), Sammy is desperate to find a way to reclaim her opulent London life.

Simone Burbeck’s life appears perfect. She lives in a mansion with her perfect husband and children, and her life is a merry-go-round of expensive renovations, dinner parties and school fundraisers. There’s just one problem: it’s all lies. When her husband has a fatal heart attack in a disastrous session with a sex worker, the true state of their finances is revealed. Simone is broke, homeless and a social outcast. With no other options, and two teenage children to care for, she is forced to return to her family home in Newcastle, Australia. It turns out Simone’s past isn’t quite the story that she told everyone in London. Nothing about Simone is what it appears to be. Oh, and her real name is Sammy.