Handsome Amir, somewhere in his twenties, somewhere in a Yorkshire town, is torn between duty and lust. While his tradition-bound family urges him to choose a wife from a parade of blank and bashful beauties, he remains a slave to boozy blonde goddess Jackie, his fellow-worker at the department store in town.

Pushing forty, with bubblegum hair and a filthy laugh, Jackie is an unlikely muse. She is openly entertained by Amir’s teetotalism and moral sincerity, but behind her whip-smart wit is a forgiving and optimistic heart. And, he sighs, she has a smile that lingers in the air like smoke. Meanwhile, at home, Amir must dodge his family’s plans for him to join the family newsagency business, ‘Fags n Fings’, and tenderly care for his beloved, but increasingly demented, mother.

Sensitive, sassy, exasperated, twelve-year-old Elle lurks in a black hoody and crops her hair to look as unlike her flamboyant mother as possible. She avoids the spiteful girls at her Catholic school, and leads a double life: raucous ballads of the seventies with wine-soaked Jackie; organic raisins and stately homes with perfect Claire, her father’s faultless new wife.

In a northern town rife with racial tension and tabloid outrage, Spilt Milk, Black Coffee is an hilarious, beguiling and unlikely love story. A romantic comedy of twenty-first century multi-cultural Britain, this is an irresistible novel from the prizewinning author of My Summer of Love.

Helen Cross's first novel, My Summer of Love, was published in 2001 and was the winner of a Betty Trask Award in 2002. She was born in 1967 and brought up in East Yorkshire. Helen was educated at Goldsmith's College, University of London, and the University of East Anglia. She currently lives in Birmingham.

My Summer of Love has now been made into a film directed by Pawel Pawelikowski, director of The Last Resort. Already acclaimed as "An intoxicating gem ... not to be missed" (Harpers & Queen), My Summer of Love looks set to be one of the major film events this autumn. You can find out more about the film at the official film website and buy a copy of the film tie-in edition of Helen Cross's book here.

Helen's new novel, The Secrets She Keeps, was published by Bloomsbury in March 2005 and will be available in a paperback edition in March 2006.