NEW RELEASE
The Pink Ladies Club - Emma Hannigan (2011)
This tells the story of three women who all have the membership requirement for the club nobody wants to join - cancer. Zoe is a tender 22, Tanya is 35 and Esme is 69, but despite the generation gap and how little else they have in common, the women find themselves being drawn into each others' lives as they battle with their health problems. With the help of their counsellor Sian, their club meetings become one of the few things that help them make sense of how their lives have changed immeasurably. Not all three women may last the course but the experience of facing and fighting this illness is life-changing - and even life-enhancing. With likeable characters and three very different perspectives on how to deal with a life-shattering illness, The Pink Ladies Club flows easily - until an unexpected twist halfway through the book shakes up the course of the rest of the story. The only drawback to this highly effective twist was that the pacing of the rest of the book seemed slightly off-kilter thereafter, but the inherent humour in the author's narrative voice coupled with the strength of characterisation made the book a winner for me. Esme, in particular, is a brilliant and memorable character with inspirational positivity - and fantastic misnomers. (SBB)
Irish author Emma Hannigan's third novel The Pink Ladies Club is about a group of women with cancer. The summary says: "The Pink Ladies Club is a pretty unusual club. There are no fees and you can be any age to join. Zoe, who runs her own boutique with her mirror-image twin sister, Charlie, is 22. Upbeat Esme, soon to celebrate a milestone birthday and maker of the best roast dinner around, is 69. Hard-nosed businesswoman Tanya, blessed with a gentle husband and a darling baby, is 35. But despite their differences, these women all have the one membership requirement for the club: cancer. And as life, loss, sickness and the sometimes bizarrely funny world of cancer-treatment washes over them, they find that being a member of the Pink Ladies Club is the glue that holds it all together. Their families love them but do they really understand? Esme's husband Michael is so set in his ways that even a change of diet rattles him. Zoe's twin Charlie is living her own fun-filled life. And how can Tanya's little girl comprehend what the future may hold? Not all three women may last the course but for them and their counsellor Sian Doyle, who has lost the man she adored to the disease, the experience of facing and fighting this illness is life-changing and even life-enhancing." The Pink Ladies Club is out in May. Hannigan has also written a memoir about her own battle with cancer called Talk to the Head Scarf.