The Thursday Friend — Catherine Cookson

On the face of it, Hannah and Humphrey Drayton were happily married. But after years of tyranny and loneliness, Hannah could no longer bear the stuffy City broker. The only relief she had was every Thursday evening, when Humphrey played bridge, and at the weekends, which he told her he spent with elderly relatives.

In despair Hannah took refuge in her writing, despite Humphrey's ridicule, and a visit to a publisher's office changed her life. There she met David Craventon, whom she began to think of as her Thursday friend. They would meet and talk and visit the theatre or the cinema. At first Humphrey knew nothing of Hannah's "other life" but even when he became aware that she was seeing someone else, his thoughts of revenge were frustrated by a secret of his own.

Then an event occurred that was to destroy all Humphrey's prospects, causing him to plan a bitter retaliation for what he regarded as his wife's betrayal. And before very long, Hannah's Thursday friend was also to become her saviour.