With more warmth and fuzziness than Harrod's sweater department,
up-and-comer Green (Mr. Maybe, 2001, etc.) offers a
near-perfect-and near perfectly cliched-romantic wish-fulfillment
fantasy, complete with perfect gay best friend, perfect bookshop,
perfect Hugh Grant-like love object, and perfectly coy tricks to
keep the lovers apart for 400 pages. Cathy (wisecracking, frizzy
hair, slightly overweight, can't be bothered with makeup), Josh,
and Si all met at university, when the center of their circle was
elegant, stunning, Portia. All changed when Portia seduced Josh
just so somebody else couldn't have him, then walked away. Ten
years later, Josh has married perfect wife and mother Lucy.
Cath-long celibate but content to spend her free time in the warm
glow of her perfect kitchen with best friend Si-has a successful
advertising career. And nobody has seen Portia since graduation.
When Lucy, the best cook in London, proposes that she and Cath open
a bookstore/cafe, they meet charming real-estate agent James, who,
as it happens, is also a brilliant painter. Everything is perfectly
lovely, studded with long cozy brunches and dinners, until the shop
opens and Portia, now a celebrity TV writer, walks back into their
lives. From there, Green pushes forward her scenes that slather on
the coziness "like layers of snuggly warm clothes" with glaringly
obvious plot-teasers (Did Portia come back for Josh? Is James
sleeping with the sexy au pair? Will James forgive Cath for
canceling their date? Will Si realize that his arrogant boyfriend
is a bastard?) that could be resolved with a phone call but aren't.
Even the one bit of grim reality (Si turns up HIV-positive), used
first to keep Cath and James apart a bit longer, turns into an
opportunity for true love and another dinner party. For a certain
middle-of-the-road, book-loving, romantic sensibility, a perfect
escape novel. Despite its off-the-charts predictability, only the
coldest of hearts will not be warmed. (Kirkus Reviews)
Cathy and Si, though total opposites, have been best friends since university.
He is impossibly tidy, bitchy and desperate to fall in love with a man like Brad Pitt. She is scatty, messy and not so desperate. They live near to each other and to Lucy and Josh (other best friends) their devilish child Max and the terrifying nanny, Ingrid.
Then one evening, Portia steps back into their lives: beautiful Portia, who broke their collective hearts and from whom they have all grown apart. What does she have in mind?
You can read our exclusive interview with Jane Green here
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