Glass Houses

It is the Sunday after a General Election, and Victoria James is awaiting a call from Downing Street. Part of her is desperate for the phone to ring, part of her is willing it to remain silent. At lunchtime - as confidently predicted by the political press - she received the summons. High office awaits her: it is to be Junior Minister for Housing. Life as she knows it, for her, her husband Barney and their 16-year-old daughter Nattie, will never be quite the same. From the outset, Victoria knows the professional challenges ahead, that her political mettle will be tested to its utmost, that as a young attractive female Minister she will be living firmly in the public eye. But nothing has prepared her for a love affair that throws her completely off-balance, a love affair with a married man so well known in media circles that it can only be a matter of time before everyone knows their secret...

'Sandra Howard has written a lovely first novel - subtly sexy and crammed with fascinating detail of political high life. Even more remarkably, she has created an enchanting heroine out of a married Tory minister - and how unashamedly we cheer on this heroine as she is dangerously drawn into a passionate affair with an equally attractive and high profile married man' Jilly Cooper
'Diverting first novel from a woman who knows better than most the whispers and waywardness of Westminster' - GOOD HOUSEKEEPING MAGAZINE (SEPT ISSUE)
'Howard describes the painful break-up of two families with intelligence and sensitivity, especially when dealing with the children, about whom she writes with real care and attention as to how people really speak. What's more, we are treated to a behind-the-scenes tour of Westminster by a guide with as much of an eye for decor and architecture as for the strange customs and habits that makes that compound so unique . . . this assured debut is miles better than the Westminster Wives docu-nov Howard might have written. In fact, this paean to middle-flowering lust could be the start of a great Trollope of a career for the author formerly known as Mrs Michael Howard' Sunday Telegraph 10/9
'"Racy rather than raunchy, perhaps?" Sandra countered in her recent TV chat with former BBC political editor Andrew Marr. Suffice to say that Sandra's debut is a lot sexier than her husband's last manifesto . . . If the litmus test for a political romance is whether you keep turning the pages, Glass Houses passes with distinction and leaves you ready for more. That's good news for Simon & Schuster, which signed Sandra Howard to a two-book deal' Observer 10/9
'You'll love Sandra Howard’s literary debut - a cross between a romance and a political romp that owes as much to Cooper's own giddy style as it does to the world of Jeffrey Archer's fictional media moguls and politicians . . . This truly is high political camp, with a thoroughly modern romance thrown in for good measure . . . Victoria is in the mould of a Jilly Cooper heroine who has gone all respectable and somehow got mixed up in politics. Read it, with you tongue firmly in your cheek, and enjoy' Sunday Express 10/9
'At William and Victoria's first meeting ("It just happened, his smile fell away and his look became completely compelling") you think: "Yay! Here we go!" and mentally reach for your seatbelt. Less bonkers than Jilly Cooper and more fun than Joanna Trollope, Sandra Howard is a welcome addition to the modern women's fiction shelves. The only question is: what the hell took her so long?' Evening Standard 11/9
'Who is better placed than the former Tory leader's wife to write a political novel?' First Magazine 8/9
'Written by the wife of former Tory leader Michael Howard, Glass Houses is a sexy debut novel set in the corridors of political power' Four stars, Closer Magazine, September issue
'She could become a second Joanna Trollope. For all her gentleness of manner, she has grit. How else could she have survived the buffetings of her life - three failed marriages by the time she was 30, the suicide of her first husband and a child to raise as a single mum . . . her observations in her novel are acute and dry, and she tackles some difficult subjects, such as domestic violence with shocking vividness . . . Michael once said that his female pin-up was Julie Christie. Sandra is a version of her. After leaving Lucie Clayton's modelling school, she picked up work almost straight away, modelling for photographer Norman Parkinson, and was part of the Swinging London scene in the 1960s' Extract and first interview (front cover Weekend) Daily Mail
'Novels by MPs' wives are often tedious roman a clef about the travails of trying to negotiate the demands of their husbands' careers with family life. This is refreshingly different: about individuals caught between private loyalty and public duty, moral principle and the vagaries of the heart . . . Howard weaves the varied strands of her ingenious plot into a smoothly and exciting narrative. She has created some interesting characters, in particular her protagonist - a very English heroine, tactful and malleable, but with a steely core of integrity. One wishes she were true' Independent 15/9
'I must admit that I approached this book with a certain amount of caution, given that these days the world and his wife seem to think they can write . . . but to my great surprise I was proven wrong. Glass Houses is a page turner and, unlike many of her political-insider fellow writers, Sandra has actually come up with a plot . . . It's surprisingly racy too' Daily Express 15/9
'Surprisingly good . . . tale about a young female minister, falling for a powerful but married media personality, by Michael Howard's wife . . . If attractive Sandra is half as passionate as her heroine, Michael is certainly a lucky man' Daily Mirror 15/9
'Her air of benign authority makes her liked and respected by politicians and the public alike. She is always impeccably groomed, unfailingly polite - and not the sort of person you could imagine even thinking a four-letter word, let alone writing one down. Well it's always the quiet ones. Howard's first novel is alarmingly saucy . . . Being Howard, however, she avoids being smutty, making this unusual: a political bonk-buster with charm and a certain pedigree . . . This book's appeal extends well beyond Westminster. Readers might pick up bits about the workings of Parliament but they might just enjoy it for what it is - a compulsive and surprisingly sexy romp' The Times 16/9
'My father was a doctor in the RAF, so we moved around the world and I grew up all over the place. We didn't live anywhere for more than a year at a time so Kent really is home now' Why I Live Where I Live feature, Mail on Sunday, 10/9
'Michael and Sandra Howard were at Annabel's last night . . . the talk was of her racy first novel, Glass Houses, launched last week' Diary story - second one in Londoner's Diary, Evening Standard 15/9
'The demure image of Michael Howard's wife Sandra may never be the same after the publication of her bonkbuster novel Glass Houses' Diary story in Black Dog, The Mail on Sunday 17/9
'The relationship between Aga is powerful, passionate and built to last' The Saga of My Aga feature, The Spectator 16/9
'Howard makes her writing debut with a story where the private and public lives of a Minister of State are set on a collision course when her loyalties, her heart and her head are in turmoil. Regardless of what happens, she knows she must always look in control' My Weekly Magazine 7/10
'Sandra Howard's first novel is a fascinating account of political high life seen through the ever-eventful life of British MP Victoria James' Voyager Magazine
'The parliamentary plot is skilfully and subtly woven' The Spectator 7/10
‘Much speculation accompanied the publication of Sandra Howard’s first novel...A fairy tale? Certainly – a compassionate newspaper editor is a species of wish-fulfilment for most politicians. An everyday story of political folk? Here, intriguing speculation creeps in, for it is difficult to escape the fact that the author is married to Michael Howard, the former leader of the Conservative party. She must know where the bodies are buried, and her writing suggests she is no shrinking violet. Westminster continues to exert its fascination, and Westminster watchers will enjoy this. But a good old-fashioned love story will always have a wider currency and this one does the trick’
Elizabeth Buchan, Sunday Times 31/12
‘An engaging and highly readable first novel’
The Lady 19/12

“Many are predicting that this new author has a great future as a writer...She certainly deals with family breakdown and an unravelling marriage with skill and sensitivity, and the plot keeps you glued” Australian Women’s Weekly
'This is ex-model Sandra Howard's first novel and, as wife of former Tory leader Michael, she gives us an intriguing glimpse into the world of politics' Woman's Weekly Fiction Special, 22/11
'A page-turning political thriller set in Westminster. A newly appointed Government minister falls in love with a newspaper editor. But if that weren't tricky enough, they're both already married. Racy, pacy romp from the wife of the former Tory leader' Daily Telegraph 18/11
Jilly Cooper's choice
'I also found Glass Houses, Sandra Howard's novel about a woman cabinet minister falling in love with the editor of a national newspaper, packed with political insight and as charming as its author' Sunday Telegraph 26/11
'A page-turning political thriller set in Westminster...Racy, pacy romp from the wife of the former Tory leader' Daily Telegraph 18/11
'While the basis of her book is a love story, Sandra is keen to point out that it has 'its fair quota of grit'. And the sequel, called 'Ursula's Story', while at heart also about love, traces what happens to the deserted wife in the first book, and is one she describes as 'quite a dark story' Writing Magazine November issue
John Mortimer's choice
'A very funny book' Observer 26/11
'Much speculation accompanied the publication of Sandra Howard's first novel...A fairy tale? Certainly - a compassionate newspaper editor is a species of wish-fulfilment for most politicians. An everyday story of political folk? Here, intriguing speculation creeps in, for it is difficult to escape the fact that the author is married to Michael Howard, the former leader of the Conservative party. She must know where the bodies are buried, and her writing suggests she is no shrinking violet. Westminster continues to exert its fascination, and Westminster watchers will enjoy this. But a good old-fashioned love story will always have a wider currency and this one does the trick' Elizabeth Buchan, Sunday Times 31/12
'An engaging and highly readable first novel' The Lady 19/12
‘As the wife of Michael Howard...Sandra Howard had a ringside seat at Westminster – experience she turns to advantage in this likeable first novel...the writing is enviably fluent’ Sunday Telegraph 1...