Nailing Harry - Jane Blanchard (2002)

Harry Hampton is the boss from hell - he bullies his staff and takes credit for other people's ideas. After he sacks a few more people for no good reason, some of the women at his TV production company - department leader Janet, receptionist Sue, secretary Nina and producer Liz - decide to take matters into their own hands. They start compiling a dossier on Harry's misdeeds and plot his downfall. Meanwhile his alcoholic wife, Val, is out to befriend them. This is a hilarious tale about a group of women determined to end their boss' reign of terror.

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Naked in Knightsbridge - Nicky Schmidt (2009)

Life is far from grand for Jools Grand. Her cleaning business is ruined after her major client's house burnt down; she's got a massive overdraft and can't pay the rent on her manky flat; she can't claim the dole because of a previous incident - and worse yet she's barely able to keep herself in HobNobs. Befriending a hobo called Skuttle and moving into his squat beneath a bus garage, Jools comes up with a plan to auction herself on eBay, with the top bidder winning her hand in matrimony. Two serious contenders emerge - the in-the-closet gay politician Rodney who needs a wife to become an MP and the deranged loner Niles who isn't prepared to take no for an answer. As Jools begins planning to marry Rodney, she is distraught to find things aren't working out how she hoped. Far from enjoying a close Carrie Bradshaw-Stanford type relationship, it seems Rodney can't stand the sight of her. And her addiction to baked goods is playing havoc with her chances of squeezing into her wedding gown and getting a decent paparazzi shot. Jools' correspondence at the start of each chapter may remind you of Shopaholic but she's got more to worry about than scoring a Denny & George scarf. As she discovers you can't buy love - not even on eBay - Jools realises she could lose even more than she already has. Even though the plot twists won't surprise, you'll still be wanting to get through the pages quicker than Jools can scoff down a tray of doughnuts. An amusing debut about a girl who may be down on her luck but is not yet out of ideas - it will get the chick lit world talking.

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Name & Address Withheld - Jane Sigaloff (2002)

aka Confessions of an Agony Aunt

Lizzie Ford is a high-profile advice columnist for a magazine and radio show. She meets advertising man Matt Baker at a work function - and they hit it off. But the problem is that Matt is stuck in an unhappy marriage to workaholic Rachel - but doesn't reveal this to his new girlfriend. One day while sick in bed, Rachel writes to Lizzie for advice about whether her husband is having an affair, using the pseudonym Name & Address Withheld. How long will it take Lizzie to work out she is the other woman?

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Name Dropping - Jane Heller (2000)

Preschool teacher Nancy Stern discovers another woman with the same name has moved into her apartment. The other Nancy is a glamorous journalist who writes about celebrities. Nancy would love to live her life and in fact begins to, opening her mail, answering her phone calls and going out with a man who calls for a blind date. But then the other woman is found murdered and Nancy begins to wonder if maybe she was the target. I liked the concept of two very different women sharing the same name but found the mystery was solved too early and there needed to be more of a twist for this book to score higher.

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Names My Sisters Call Me - Megan Crane (2008)

Courtney Cassel is thrilled when her boyfriend Lucas proposes. Courtney views her engagement as the perfect time to reconnect with her estranged sister Raine. Six years before, Raine, the fun-loving middle sister, ruined oldest sister Norah's wedding. Norah has never forgiven Raine for her actions and is furious when Courtney considers contacting her. Courtney decides to accompany her fiance to California on his business trip in order to locate Raine. Courtney soon finds her and realises that her sister is still with Matt, Courtney's first love. Soon Courtney is questioning every decision in her life, including whether she can marry Lucas if she is still in love with Matt. This is a great story about sisters and struggling with life's "what-ifs". (AO)

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Nancy's Theory of Style - Grace Coopersmith (2010)

Socialite Nancy Carrington-Chambers is obsessed with perfection. When she marries husband Todd, and they decide to build their dream house, Nancy details the plans so that they are exactly what she wants. However, when the house comes out totally wrong - like having a wet bar in the bedroom for example, which is just too tacky for Nancy - it causes turmoil in her marriage. Eventually, Nancy feels that she needs some time away from the disastrous house to clear her head so she heads to her apartment in San Francisco to work on starting her event design business called Froth. Todd agrees that some time apart might do them both good and even offers to hire an assistant for Nancy to help her get going. At first Nancy is depressed over the applicants for the assistant position - then Derek Bottomsley walks in. Derek is fabulous and she immediately offers him the job. What more could she ask for than a gorgeous British assistant who is so obviously gay and understands the meaning of good style? Soon the two are working flawlessly together so when Nancy's flighty cousin, Birdie, drops off her little daughter Eugenia to stay with Nancy indefinitely while she travels with her latest toyboy, Nancy is upset to say the least. The last thing Nancy wants is a dirty little child making a mess in her spotless apartment. Unable to get in touch with Birdie and not wanting to abandon the child, Nancy and Derek are forced to work out a schedule that now involves Eugenia. As the weeks pass, the trio are blending together so well that passersby think they are a family and neither Nancy nor Derek corrects the assumption. But what seems too good to be true often is and soon everything in Nancy's life is falling apart. She needs to ask herself if what she has believed in all her life will really make her happy in the long run. Or should she risk it all for what she knows is true and real? This is a fresh and vibrant novel with witty and charismatic characters that readers are sure to fall in love with. Whether you live a fabulous life in a spotless penthouse or a life full of tacky decor and messy chidren, Nancy's heartfelt story will resonate with one and all. (AS)

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Nanny Returns - Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus (2009)

Twelve years after Nan left New York and the loathsome X family, she returns to the place that haunts her most. Back in the Upper East Side after travelling the world with her UN staffer husband Ryan (remember HH?), she finds many new dilemmas to deal with. First off, their return to the city seems to prompt HH to want to start a family, something that scares Nan as she feels she isn't ready to be a mother yet. Then while her husband is away on business, a knock on the door in the middle of the night reveals her former charge, Grayer, now an out-of-control adolescent, drunk and looking for Nan. Not wanting to turn him away, Nan lets him in and in doing so brings back a part of her past that she would much sooner forget. Meanwhile, her new consulting business brings her in contact with the trials and perils that come after nannying - private school. What makes this book even better is that it's set with the dissolving economy as the backdrop, showing what happens when the super wealthy families lose the money they so love. Humorous and witty with many of the characters returning from the first novel, this is a completely addictive page-turner. (AS)

Second Opinion

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Nappily Ever After - Trisha R. Thomas (2000)

Fed up with her four-year stagnant relationship with live-in boyfriend Clint, Venus Johnston is now in search of herself. Venus searches for the root of her problem by cutting her hair down to its roots. She hopes that by winning her lifelong fight with her hair, she gains control of her life. Venus' hair transformation sends her on a journey that she would have never imagined. This is the first novel in the Nappily series, and is a funny introspective novel that has been adapted for a film starring Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry. (CM)

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Nearlyweds - Beth Kendrick (2006)

Three newlywed couples each discover that the minister who married them died before signing their marriage certificates and they are not legally married. Erin gave up her prestigious job as a paediatrician in Boston to move with her husband David out to the Berkshires in order to be closer to his mother. Erin's mother-in-law is determined to break up the marriage and Erin quickly realises that because of her husband's spineless personality, her mother-in-law will win the battle. Casey's husband Nick expressed doubts on the day of the wedding and when he realises that their marriage is not legal he is no rush to return to the courthouse and legalise it. Stella married a man twice her age and was quickly branded as a gold-digger. Her husband Mark tells her during their honeymoon that he had a vasectomy years ago and never wants to have more children. Stella loves Mark but she doesn't know if she could ever be happy without children. These three women form a close friendship as they debate whether they really want to remarry their husbands. This is a very funny book that tackles the question of if you had the choice, would you do it all over again. (AO)

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Needles and Pearls - Gil McNeil (2010)

In this sequel to Divas Don't Knit, It has been a year since the car accident that took the life of Jo's husband Nick, a year since she arrived in the seaside town with her two boys Archie and Jack to take over her grandmother's knitting shop. This appears to be the season of new beginnings, with two weddings, a new relationship and a bundle of joy on the horizon. Jo's friend, Ellen, has just announced her engagement to Dirty Harry and Jo's Gran is getting married again to Reg. Romance is in the air as Jo is about to experience a lovely relationship with the local carpenter Martin, though just as Jo is getting into the groove of dating again, she is in for a big surprise when she finds out she is pregnant to Daniel, a photographer she had a fling with in Venice. Will Jo's baby put a dent in her relationships or will it be a deciding point in which guy she wishes to be with. McNeil's humour shows through her writing with each turn of the page. (PP)

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Never Can Say Goodbye - Christina Jones (2011)

Frankie is surprised to discover she's about to inherit a clothing hire shop from her boss Rita, who is off to chase the sun. As she tries to make Francesca's Fabulous Frocks into a success, selling vintage dresses, she has her eye on the new guy on the flower stall, Dexter. His uncle Ray has headed off to the Greek isle of Mykonos with Rita, leaving him behind to make a very big impression on the village's fairer sex. But it seems not only are there ghosts of Dexter's past lurking, there's actually a real ghost lurking in the shop, attached to his late wife's wedding gown. When Maisie, the busybody village medium, weighs in, things start getting even more out of hand. This is a delightful rom-com full of quirky characters - the ghostly elements are handled lightly and the cold wintery setting adds lots of atmosphere. Regular readers of Christina Jones' books will no doubt be delighted to be reunited with many familiar characters from previous novels.

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Never Close Your Eyes - Emma Burstall (2009)

The story opens with an incident back in Newcastle in 1978, when a fight between two sisters changes their lives forever. Then the story moves forward to the present day in London, with three women attending a creative writing group. Mother of two Evie, who works from home as a wedding gown designer, is still hoping to get back with her husband Neil and spends a lot of time and money talking to a clairvoyant. Becca's high-flying financial career often takes her away from her family. Meanwhile journalist Nic's drinking problem is starting to get out of hand but husband Alan is too busy working in his study to pay much attention. This is a vivid, often dark, tale about tangled relationships. From a vulnerable daughter and an unwelcome blast from the past to a comforting neighbour and an eccentric older woman, eventually all the story threads are woven together.

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Never Say Goodbye - Linda Kavanagh (2011)

Having read all of Linda Kavanagh's back catalogue, I was delighted to hear the news of this release - and the premise was certainly an intriguing one. Thirty years ago, the official verdict was that 13-year-old Zoe Gray accidentally drowned. But when her sister Claire inherits the family home, she discovers her sister's secret diary, which tells a very different story. Claire discovers that four schoolgirls in Zoe's class were guilty of appalling acts of bullying that ultimately led Zoe to take her own life. She vows to avenge her sister by finding and punishing the women responsible. The four schoolgirls are now in their early 40s, and all are leading wealthy and privileged lives. The tragedy of Zoe's death has defined their own lives, and kept them close to each other, united in guilt that is never spoken about. But suddenly, out of the blue, someone is threatening to strip away the safe veneer of respectability they've built around themselves. They all have so much to lose. Yet as the story unfolds, even more astonishing are the secrets they've never shared with each other . . . As Claire starts out on her journey of revenge, she finds herself in a world where nothing is quite what it seems. Will she succeed in avenging Zoe? And are there further secrets to be uncovered? If you like your women's fiction dark, Kavanagh does dark extremely well - and this novel is no exception. School bullying is a subject that I've rarely come across in women's fiction, and this book handles it extremely well - along with some other very serious themes. There's a present day story and a back story running through the novel, and for me, the back story is by far the more powerful and impactful. There were times when I wanted to scream at the injustice Zoe suffered and fervently wished that someone would help her make her way out of her hopeless predicament. The author also shows great skill in making the reader empathise with some of the characters that initially seem abhorrent, and in showing that some people who appear to be bad eggs in life are bad for a reason and that nothing is as simple as it seems, while others are simply bad and beyond redemption. With a chilling ending, this book is well worth a read for those who are looking for something gritty. (SBS)

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Never Say Never - Melissa Hill (2005)

A group of Irish university friends arrange to meet five years on. The book then skips to seven years later when it is clear that life has not gone according to plan . . . There's Olivia, who was married to college sweetheart Peter and has a daughter, Ellie, who he never knew. Can she ever get over her grief and find a new man? Accountant Robin lives in the US and is determined never to return home. But her publisher wants her in Ireland to publicise her book series for kids with allergies. Leah is unhappily heading towards the big 3-0, despite a successful business partnership with fellow graduate Andrew, a star rugby player who is married to the jealous Amanda. The unexpected twist (it actually made me gasp) really makes this a fantastic read.

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New Beginnings - Fern Britton (2011)

When journalist Christie is left widowed with two children, she knows the opportunity of a presenting job on daytime TV show Tart Talk is too good to pass up. And with the help of her mum and sister - and a very attractive divorced school dad - she should just about manage to juggle home and work. Money is still tight for Christie, especially as she's paying off a debt her husband Nick took out to help his dad. She signs up with the very pushy agent Julia, who has been in the headlines herself recently over the suspicious death of a client. Christie is filling in for diva Gilly, who despite going on maternity leave for triplets, doesn't want to let her replacement get too comfortable in her chair. For a novel set in the fast-paced world of TV, written by a real-life TV presenter, this really plods along. The only highlight worth hanging around for was how Julia was going to get her comeuppance.

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News Blues - Marianne Mancusi (2008)

When Maddy Madison is offered an investigative producer spot on a new News 9 San Diego show, she is hoping it will take her one step closer to her dream job on Newsline - and away from puff pieces about Killer Cosmetics and Pudgy Pets. But first she has to become accustomed to working directly with anchor Terrance Toller who can't get enough of his face on screen and needs three hours notice of a shoot to prepare his hair and make-up. Things are also looking up when she is partnered with a cute new cameraman, Jamie, but she is disappointed to learn he comes with a fianc�e. During a handbag shopping spree over the border in Tijuana, Mexico, a stallholder tells her about a drug tunnel into the US and Maddy thinks she's on to the scoop of her life. But she doesn't realise how close the story will come to her own family - and what she'll have to risk to get it broadcast.

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New York Valentine - Carmen Reid (2011)

This is the fifth instalment about the personal shopper turned TV guru Annie Valentine. After her TV show How Not to Shop gets cancelled, Annie is offered an opportunity by her old friend Svetlana that's too good to pass up. Annie flies to New York and takes along her daughter Lana, saying goodbye for a month to husband Ed, teenage son and baby twins. While in Manhattan, Annie gets seduced by the fabulous fashion, and Lana by New York men. But when a scandal surrounding Ed breaks out in London, Annie has to decide between her new love of New York and her family and home. New York Valentine has the usual mix of calamities, love and fashion fixes that we've become used to with the other books in this series. The characters by now are like old friends and seem to improve with each book. (AB)

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Nice to Come Home To - Rebecca Flowers (2008)

Pru Whistler always assumed that at 36 years old she would be married with children. Instead, her long-term boyfriend dumps her for his therapist and her flaky sister and her two-year-old niece move in with her. Pru finds herself hiding out at the local coffeehouse owned by John Owen, a wonderful man in the midst of divorce. Pru and John find themselves constantly making excuses to be around each other, however, after Pru finally takes a leap with John, his wife wants to reconcile. Pru's family and friends rally around her as she decides to make big changes in her life. Only when Pru's definition of happily ever after starts to change, does her love life fall into place. The reader will love Pru and the quirky people she surrounds herself with. (AO)

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Northern Soul Revival - Claire Moss (2010)

The night before her old school mate Carl leaves for Australia, Joss heads to Leeds to see him. Having just broken up with her boyfriend of six years, Joss is thinking that a fling may be just what she needs to move on. And Carl has had unrequited feelings for Joss for years and thinks he's got nothing to lose. Months down the track, Carl is settled in Tasmania with a new girlfriend when Joss discovers she's pregnant. But she just can't bring herself to tell Carl. What will happen when he returns home for a friend's wedding and sees Joss as a heavily pregnant bridesmaid? Told from the alternate viewpoints of Carl and Joss, this is an interesting story about two friends getting more than they bargained for from a night of passion. But it had to lose marks for its sometimes forced dialogue and too-good-to-be-true ending.

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No Cure for the Broken Hearted - Kenneth Rosenberg (2010)

Architect Katherine is single and living in New York. She was madly in love with Nick as a teenager and thought he felt the same way but alas not and he broke her heart. Now 12 years later, Nick wants her to build his house for him and his new fiancee. Reluctantly Katherine accepts the commission, hoping that by watching Nick get married she can finally move on. But Nick has other plans as he finds himself falling for Katherine. Will Nick go through with his marriage to his bridezilla or will he discover that his happily ever after should be with Katherine. This novel sends the message that if you love somebody, then hurry up and tell them. (PP)

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None of My Affair - Fiona O'Brien (2008)

Carrie is thinking of finally leaving her philandering husband, Rob, when her supermodel daughter Ali announces her engagement. With the wedding to take place on a friend's luxurious yacht off the coast of Marbella, the couple decide to delay their separation. Daughter Hope, who moved to Spain to escape her family and work on a photography book, is less than enamoured to have them descend on her to prepare for the wedding. Meanwhile Rob's mistress, TV presenter Olwen, is having second thoughts, and Carrie's friend Jay will do anything to hold on to her own husband, Frank. I found I didn't really care for any of these characters and even the explosive ending couldn't save the story.

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No Strings Attached - Clare Dowling (2007)

Judy's fiancé Barry goes AWOL the night before their wedding and his best man Lenny has to break the news of his disappearance. Then to add insult to injury, activity on their credit card suggests Barry is living it up in France. Lenny, king of the short-term relationship, stays on as Judy deals with the humiliation. Maybe a fling with no strings attached is just what she needs.

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Not Another Bad Date - Rachel Gibson (2008)

Fantasy novelist Adele Harris heads back to her Texan hometown after her sister's husband ups and leaves her. And it's lucky she's on hand because Sherilyn is admitted to hospital with pre-eclampsia halfway through her pregnancy and Adele needs to look after her teenage daughter Kendra. It is while picking Kendra up from a friend's house that she runs into her former boyfriend and now high school gridiron coach Zach. His wife Devon - Adele's schooldays nemesis - died a few years earlier in a car accident. But Adele is not keen to embrace love the second time round - especially as she believes she is cursed to always have bad dates. This is the fourth book in the series based around four writer friends and reveals the reason behind Adele's bad run of dating luck.

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Nothing But Trouble - Rachel Gibson (2010)

Ten years of pent-up disappointment at trying to break into the Hollywood movie scene is enough to push struggling actress Chelsea to the brink of breaking. She heads to Seattle to visit her sister, Bo, the PR agent for ice hockey team the Chinooks (this is Gibson's fifth title based around the team). Chelsea is offered a personal assistant's job - to help former superstar Mark Bressler recover over three months. With the bonus cheque of $10,000 in mind, and the hope of changing her life, Chelsea is determined to get Mark back on track. The entire storyline and the characters were disappointing - the book focused too much on the sexual tension between Chelsea and Mark, and became less engaging as the story progressed. One for her fans perhaps? (XT)

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Not Meeting Mr Right - Anita Heiss (2007)

Alice Aigner is a confirmed single but at her 10-year high school reunion she has a change of heart, deciding she does want it all - the successful career as head of history at a Catholic school, plus marriage and kids. So she sets a goal to find the perfect man and marry him before her 30th birthday. With her best friends' help, she draws up a 10-point selection criteria such as: No.2 Must think I am the most gorgeous woman on the planet; No. 6 Must be punctual (although I am allowed to be on Koori time) and No. 8 Must love his job (don't want him whingeing every night about his day). Alice tries blind dates, dating friends' relatives, holiday romances, internet dating - but can she find Mr Right in time?

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Not My Daughter - Barbara Delinsky (2010)

Teenager Lily and her friends make a pact to get pregnant. None of them think that their behaviour will affect anyone else, especially their parents. The 17-year-olds all think they can be better mothers than some of the woman they had seen in town. Each girl happily goes to tell their mothers that they are pregnant. But none of them foresee what will happen once their plan is made public. Lily's mother, Susan, is the high school principal so faces scrutiny from the school board and the town. Susan was herself 17 and pregnant when she started over in this town and now her reputation is on the line. Although I would not have chosen to read this if it had not been a book club selection, I really enjoyed it and look forward to reading more from this author. (JG)

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Not Ready for Mom Jeans - Maureen Lipinski (2010)

In this sequel to A Bump in the Road, Chicago event planner Clare is returning to work after the birth of daughter Sara. Even though she loves her job, she is worried about spending time away from her baby. Plus how on earth is she going to function without a proper night's sleep or without being able to fit back into her pre-pregnancy wardrobe? As Clare blogs her experiences and pulls together events, including a golfing day for an ex-boyfriend, she begins to wonder if she should instead be a stay-at-home mum. Written as diary entries, Lipinski's wry humour shines through again and many will relate well to Clare's dilemma. But the story jumps around a little too much to feel like a well-rounded novel - perhaps this chaotic style was intentional to represent Clare's new hectic life.

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Notting Hell - Rachel Johnson (2006)

Mimi and Clare live on the communal garden in Notting Hill where it is very much a case of the haves and have-yachts. While Mimi's interest is piqued by the neighbourhood's new billionaire, Clare is keeping an eye of some illicit going-ons, of the adultery and construction kind. Each is striving to be the best Notting Hill mummy - Mimi just needs the six-figure income; Clare the baby.

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Not What You Think - Melissa Hill (2004)

Chloe Fallon is planning the wedding of the year. But little does she realise how a mix-up over invitations will cause trouble for herself, her fiancé Dan Hunt and a group of three friends. Laura Fanning is about to marry Neil, who is very supportive of her decision to quit her job and start her own jewellery company - even if her own family is horrified. When she is given Chloe's invitations by mistake, she realises that the groom is her friend Nicola Peters' ex. Nicola is now dating Ken, the manager of the gym where she works and the last thing she needs is having Dan come back into her life. Meanwhile, the third friend Helen Jackson has a great career but has never bonded with her young daughter Kerry. The father left her and no man has wanted to stick around since. But maybe she's about to take her friends for granted once too often. When Chloe starts delving into why Dan and Nicola broke up, all sorts of secrets start coming to the surface - and of course there's a big twist or two.

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No Way to Say Goodbye - Anna McPartlin (2006)

A new neighbour is moving in next door to Mary of the Sorrows. She is so-named because she has experienced much tragedy in her 29 years of life, including the death of her mother, boyfriend and young son. The newcomer, American music executive Sam, has moved to the Irish village where his grandmother once lived to escape his drug addiction. There's also Mary's cousin Ivan, whose wife has left and taken his kids; and her journalist friend Penny, who needs to face up to the fact that she's an alcoholic and her long-running affair with a married man is ending. This is a moving story about a group of lost characters needing to be freed from their past hurts. It is quite emotive but even tragic Mary's sense of humour is allowed to shine through.

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