I have been meaning to read this Anna Maxted book for years and finally bought a copy and finished it this weekend! We follow the character of Nat, who begins the story by saying:
To say that Babs is my closest friend is rather like saying that Einstein was good at sums. And if you've ever had a best friend, you'll know what I mean. Babs and I had such a beautiful relationship, no man could better it. And then she met Simon.
So Babs has got married and moved out of the flat that she shares with Nat into her new life with Simon. Nat does not take this too well at all. She seems to have a problem in seeing reality, whether that be about her new boyfriend, her career, her best friend's marriage or what she sees when she looks into the mirror. I really enjoyed Anna Maxted's style of writing, she is extremely witty yet also offers the reader many poignant moments throughout the story. One of the main subjects in this book took me completely by surprise and I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't read it. I will say though that an extremely difficult subject is dealt with brilliantly, it is very clear that the author put a lot of time and effort into researching this area.
The characters in this book are very well created, I loved Nat's mother and found her completely believable. However, I could not take to the character of Babs at all, even when she was trying to help Nat, I couldn't warm to her. You can't like everyone though can you?
It didn't take me long at all to read this book as the character of Nat totally drew me in and I was willing her to get her life back on track right up to the last page. I know that this book is pretty old but if any of you, like me, have not got round to reading it then I would urge you to get a copy as I thought it was excellent.
