My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

‘And how old is Stefan?’ she asked. ‘Forty-five,’ said Jackie proudly. ‘Recently divorced. As fit as a butcher’s dog with a bone to match.’

 

Rogues and charlatans are all I seem to attract these days. And nobody wants a decrepit old woman with the memory of a stunned goldfish. I’m better off alone.

 

Zara was the last person she expected to see on her doorstep. She was standing there dressed to the nines and inspecting her finger as if by pressing the doorbell she may have picked up a communicable disease.

 

‘Lad? He’s an adult– that makes him fair game,’ said Jackie, her words a little slurred. ‘You’ve got underwear older than him,’ said Pauline, who had been rather quiet. ‘It’s not my fault that Marks and Spencer’s make them to last.’ Jackie jutted out her chin.

 

Her hair looked like she’d backcombed it with a hedgehog and she still had a full face of make-up although it was now rather patchy and smudged, giving her a certain Dalí-esque quality.

 

My Review:

 

I enjoyed this wryly humorous women’s fiction tale. While the characters weren’t always likable, they were well-nuanced and insightfully layered with realistic complications and foibles. The writing style was delightfully detailed with sardonic observations, sparring and snappy banter, and perceptive inner musings and narratives that tickled and taunted my curiosity as well as my funny bone. I had pages of cleverly written highlighted passages and was greatly pained to narrow the list down to the handful in this review.