CONTEMPORARY
PRETENDING by Holly Bourne (Hodder £14.99, 448 pp)
PRETENDING
by Holly Bourne (Hodder £14.99, 448 pp)
Bourne won multiple plaudits for her Young Adult books but moved into grown-up territory in 2018 with How Do You Like Me Now?.
I gave that sharp, stylish and caustically honest read a rave review in these pages and I am delighted to report this is equally brilliant.
April works at a sexual violence charity where she is constantly confronted with terrible acts committed by men.
Trauma is also part of her own past and it all combines to give her an understandable but vicious view of men — basically, she hates them.
Life is complicated however, and April also hates that she cannot sustain a relationship because, despite it all, she yearns to be part of a couple.
After being dumped yet again, she concludes that since being herself isn’t working, she will become someone else. Someone confident, sexy, the opposite of needy — every man’s dream woman.
Trusting Joshua is drawn in. But the deceit will hurt him badly when he’s only trying his best. True and wise, I loved it.
IT’S NOT ALL DOWNHILL FROM HERE by Terry McMillan (Crown Books £20, 368 pp)
IT’S NOT ALL DOWNHILL FROM HERE
by Terry McMillan (Crown Books £20, 368 pp)
On her 68th birthday Loretha’s third and best husband surprises her with a trip to Palm Springs. Then he has a heart attack and dies not long after arrival.
Loretha has a full life containing a long-standing group of girlfriends, a mother suffering dementia in a care home, an alcoholic daughter whose chaotic lifestyle demands regular bailouts, a deeply religious twin sister who also demands regular bailouts and a new arrival in the form of her dead husband’s long-lost gay son who moves in with her and doesn’t know what he wants to do with his life.
These characters are beautifully, brilliantly drawn, and I was fascinated by the relationships and individual emotions on display as they all navigate life’s difficulties and triumphs in their own ways.
It’s Not All Downhill From Here is fascinating on the many lies we tell ourselves and others in order to keep the peace, and on how desire for a fresh start is at odds with the physical realities of getting older. Wonderful.