NEW RELEASE
Gossip - Beth Gutcheon (2012)
Lovie has two best friends from her time at boarding school, Avis and Dinah. They each have a great affection for Lovie but merely tolerate each other. They find themselves thrust together, however, with Lovie in the middle, when Avis' daughter and Dinah's son become engaged. What follows is a story of polar opposites coming together for the good of their children and the consequences of how we speak about others with each other, be it real or imagined, good or ill-intended. Gossip is one of those books that I had such high hopes for but which just didn't win me over in the end. I found the story to be somewhat disjointed, with bits and pieces of each woman's life thrown in randomly, as if for filler. I kept hoping something would tie everything together but never got that sense, even by the end. (LEK)
Gossip, by Beth Gutcheon, is a story about the consequences of rumour set amid the glamorous world of Manhattan's Upper East Side. The synopsis says: "Loviah 'Lovie' French owns a small, high-end dress shop on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Renowned for her taste and discretion, Lovie is the one to whom certain women turn when they need "just the thing" for major life events - baptisms and balls, weddings and funerals - or when they just want to dish in the dressing room. Among the people who depend on Lovie's confidence are her two best friends since boarding school: Dinah Wainwright and Avis Metcalf. Outspoken and brimming with confidence, Dinah made a name for herself as a columnist covering the doings of New York's wealthiest and most fabulous. Shy, proper Avis, in many ways Dinah's opposite, rose to prominence in the art world with her quiet manners, hard work, and precise judgment. Despite the deep affection they both feel for Lovie, they have been more or less allergic to each other since a minor incident decades earlier that has been remembered and resented with what will prove to be unimaginable consequences. These uneasy acquaintances become unwillingly bound to each other when Dinah's favourite son and Avis' only daughter fall in love and marry. On the surface, Nick and Grace are the perfect match - a playful, romantic, buoyant and beautiful pair. But their commitment will be strained by time and change: career setbacks, reckless choices, the birth of a child, jealousies, and rumour. At the centre of their orbit is Lovie, who knows everyone's secrets and manages them as wisely as she can. Which is not wisely enough, as things turn out - a fact that will have a shattering effect on all their lives." Gossip is out in March.