Hot for Certainties

David Melrose adored his mother. Or, at least, he did once. Up until the time when he started school at Glazebrook...

All it took was seeing his mother in a different light, one he should never have been witness to.

Back at school, when a waitress approaches David for help, he is unable to comprehend the implications behind her request.

Taking him into confidence, the waitress introduces a new perspective, one that David is rapidly excelled into.

On term holidays, David returns home to his mother. With each visit becoming increasingly uncomfortable, David finds solace with his grandparents and soon his holidays are spent with them and his father in Combe.

However, David’s bonding with his father comes to an abrupt end when he re-marries - an event which further adds to David’s confusion.

Despite his increasing exposure, David is still naïve, something that places him in situations beyond his control.

Does it pay to be honest? Or are the consequences of honesty more heartache than it’s worth?

Unexpectedly, David meets Jean - the parlour maid at his grandparent’s house. In her, he finds someone he can really talk to.

They share a secret; they share a bond.

But still David can’t escape his mother and her increasingly desperate efforts and tactics to establish herself more firmly in his life, having done nothing but further disrupt it.

With everyone around him scrutinising him so closely, David is left to deal with the consequences and soon, their long-terms implications take David to places he would never have imagined.

Hot for Certainties is the moving story of a young boy’s disillusionment and journey to discover his place in the world.

Praise for Robin Douglas-Home

'Melrose emerges unbelievably stolid and non-combatant in the face of a total and continual persecution' - Kirkus Reviews

'Typical[ly] English' - Kirkus Reviews

Robin Douglas-Home in 1932, Douglas-Home was a both a jazz pianist and author. Eldest son of the Honourable Henry Douglas-Home, from his first marriage, Robin Douglas-Home was a leading social figure. His younger brother was the Editor of The Times. His work included the authorised biography of Frank Sinatra along with the publication of other novels.