Sandra Howard

Sandra Clare Howard (née Paul) was born in 1940 and was one of the leading fashion models of the 1960s.   Although occasionally appearing in magazines, Sandra has largely given up her modelling career. She is a trustee of the drug rehabilitation charity Addaction and vice-president of the National Centre for Young People with Epilepsy (NCYPE) She is married to the former Conservative Party leader Michael Howard. 

Glass Houses; Ursula's Story; A Matter of Loyalty (Simon & Schuster)

A Matter of Loyalty

When a bomb goes off in London's West End, Home Secretary Victoria Osborne has a desperate sense of having failed in her duty to protect the public. A young Muslim reporter, Ahmed Khan - on the staff of a national newspaper edited by Victoria's husband - also has a deep-seated sense of anger and responsibility. He persuades his editor to let him go back amongst childhood friends in Leeds to try to glean anything - any lead, any clue - that might help prevent further bombs. When Ahmed meets Victoria's daughter, Nattie, at a party, he cannot get her out of his mind. They begin seeing each other. As he turns over stones in his hometown and finds out uncomfortable facts, his involvement with Nattie has everyone alarmed. He continues to see her and keep in touch with a group of potential terrorists. Knowing something catastrophic is being planned, Ahmed fears for Nattie's safety and becomes obsessively determined to thwart it...

I owe many thanks to a wide circle of people . . . to Vivienne Schuster who originally pressed me to have a go at a book and to Hilary Johnson for her invaluable help and guidance in how to write one. . . .

Author photograph: Barry Lategan