The two tales in A Very Inappropriate Affair are about relationships. They address romantic pairings where there is an age difference, and where outsiders might question the suitability or common sense of the relationships.
The behaviour of both stories' central characters - Marisa and Honey - is linked with perceptions they formed during childhood as a result of weak parenting. Will the women make the right decisions in love?
Marisa is significantly older than Jack, but believes they are soul mates. Honey is younger than Archie, and she falls for his charm. With this common thread, the characters find themselves drawn into romantic attachments, even though they should probably not engage at all.
Marisa has a perfect partner, Piers, just waiting to give her all his time and attention. Instead, she is irresistibly drawn to the younger, more passionate Jack.
Honey was happy as an independent woman before she formed a friendship, and then a romantic attachment with Archie. Full of charm, his sense of fun masks a heavy emotional burden.
Says author Lisette Skeet, "I examine the ways in which childhood experiences and upbringing affect adult behaviour." In A Very Inappropriate Affair, "Marisa was affected by her loneliness as a child, and her parents' failure to give her moral guidelines and parameters for her life, and Honey was affected by her mother's inability to protect her fully."
