Scheming social climber Alexa may be humbly born. But only a title, mansion and family tiara will do. Befriending feckless aristo Florrie (three surnames plus black hole where her brain should be) means the grandest doors swing open and the prince of her dreams is in sight. But has Florrie's mother, the formidable Lady Annabel, rumbled what Alexa is up to?

Beautiful but penniless student Polly, meanwhile, is in love. Is Max, the handsome young vet she's found in a country lane, quite as ordinary as he seems, however?

Passionate love, eye-widening snobbery and more than naked ambition abound in this contemporary Cinderella tale.

Jilly Bond reads Wendy Holden's deliciously satirical novel of the upwardly mobile.