Separate Beds by Elizabeth Buchan, Penguin UK, $24.95
British author Elizabeth Buchan writes chick-lit for the middle-aged woman which may sound a little grumpy-old-womanish but is actually surprisingly thought-provoking and hugely enjoyable.
Separate Beds centres on Annie Nicholson, a 49-year-old health service manager, who hasn’t slept in the same bed as her media exec hubby Tom for five years. Added to this the couple appears to have been abandoned by their eldest daughter, their son is facing the loss of his furniture business, wife and child and their younger daughter is living in the attic trying to be a novelist. So when Tom loses his high-powered job, the new stress threatens to push this family further apart.
What sets Buchan apart in this crowded genre is her perceptive and intelligent observations, smart plotting and likeable characterisation.
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