Eleanor Stewart had always had a difficult relationship with her mother, but when her mother's persistent ill-health, caused by Parkinson's Disease, meant she needed a new home, Eleanor offered her one. 'It will only be for six months' she assured her husband - but it wasn't. It was for ten years. And, initially, those years were hard. Her mother, Mary, had very little interest in Eleanor's life, or even in her two grandchildren. So if a bridge was to be built between the two women, Eleanor would have to build it - and find the necessary solid ground to do so. She found it by exploring her mother's past with her. Mary had had a fascinating life, which included being shelled during the Second World War, shipwrecked and a passionate affair while sailing to India. As Mary Stewart reveals more and more of her past, Eleanor discovers a woman she has never really known, and the two forge a strong relationship that was not possible before.

The sequel to the popular Kicking the Habit! When Eleanor Stewart abandoned her vows and her life as a nun, she found herself in the middle of the swinging Sixties - and soon joined in. Boyfriends, parties, and mini-skirts took the place of silence and restraint, as she pursued her career as a midwife and the men she met with equal commitment. Troubled by her relationship with her mother, and what she saw as a growing estrangement from her faith, she finally falls in love and settles down - only to discover her past catching up with her, as she faces infertility. But with her husband at her side, they battle to adopt two children. Will the dream of a happy family, that drove her out of the convent, finally come true?