Someone Like You

"Someone Like You" by Cathy Kelly, published by Plume. From Publishers Weeklyopular Irish columnist and author Kelly makes her U.S. literary debut with a soap operatic novel about three very different Dublin women who become fast friends while on holiday in Egypt. After their return, they meet regularly and commiserate with each other over mishaps, regale one another with triumphs and rage together over life's vicissitudes. Emma Sheridan is 31 and happily married, but obsessed with her failure to get pregnant. As the cowed daughter of a passive-aggressive mother and a viciously boorish father, she deserves sympathy, but her friends wonder why she refuses to seek a doctor's advice about fertility and also why she doesn't stand up to her abusive father. Hannah Campbell, a chic career woman in her mid-30s, has a lusty sex drive and works out regularly to keep her figure, but is still recovering from being dumped after a 10-year affair. Leonie Delaney, a divorced veterinary nurse and animal lover, is a devoted mother of three teenagers who, after six dateless years, finally resorts to a personal ad to find a man, calling herself voluptuous rather than overweight. Indigenous expressions like nappies, loo and shagged aside, the details of the novel designer clothing, characters stricken by Alzheimer's and bulimia and, of course, the single career woman's search for an ideal mate suggest that it could as easily be set in Chicago as Dublin. After nearly 500 pages, readers will have gotten to know these three women intimately all are believable and memorable. Part Bridget Jones, part Ann Landers, this saga of hope and disillusionment is fully equipped with soul-searching, sex and, above all, comforting female friendship. Agent, Ali Gunn of Curtis Brown. (July)Forecast: A cozy jacket photo fails to suggest the scrappier story within; this engaging but unremarkable novel may escape the radar of most American readers. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.From BooklistThe best-selling contemporary women's fiction author in the U.K and her native Ireland makes her U.S. debut with a warm and lighthearted novel that follows the trials and tribulations of three women who become close friends after a chance meeting during a vacation in Egypt. Through their friendship, the women discover that each has a secret goal over which they endlessly obsess. For Emma, it is escaping her domineering father and finally conceiving a child with her husband; for Leonie, divorced mother of three teenagers, it means finding the elusive true love of her life; and for Hannah, it's the pursuit of independence and security--qualities she doesn't think she'll ever be able to trust any man to provide. After their return home to Ireland, the three women meet once a month, detailing their hopes and dreams as they form deeper bonds and console and provide mutual support. Kelly's female archetypes transcend national boundaries, and her book will appeal to readers who favor warm and funny contemporary women's fiction about realistic women. Kathleen HughesCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Book details: published 2000. Order now on BookShops.in with fast, reliable delivery across India.