One of Joanna Trollope's most popular and widely read novels has been adapted for the stage for the first time.

Extraordinary storytelling at its best, Marrying the Mistress sees a distinguished judge announce that he is leaving his wife to marry his younger mistress after many years of marriage. This decision, not unsurprisingly, has a shattering effect on his family, disrupting not only his life, but also the lives of his children, their respective partners, and his grandchildren to varying and unusual degrees.

Joanna Trollope became a full-time author in 1980, but it was not until 1987 that she published the first of her contemporary novels, The Choir. She has gone on to write 11 more: A Village Affair, A Passionate Man, The Rector's Wife, The Men and the Girls, A Spanish Lover, The Best of Friends, Next of Kin, Other People's Children, Marrying the Mistress, Girl from the South and Brother and Sister. Over the last few years, Trollope's reputation as a contemporary novelist has soared with her UK paperback sales now totalling more than six million.

Adapted for the stage and directed by David Taylor, Marrying the Mistress stars Adrian Lukis (Pride and Prejudice, Peak Practice and The Old Vic's current production of The Philadelphia Story), Caroline Langrishe (Judge John Deed, Lovejoy), Jeremy Clyde (The Colour of Justice, Is it Legal?), and Polly Adams (RSC).

l Marrying the Mistress Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford, September 12-17 Tickets £13 01483 440000.