Bookends - Softcover

Jane Green

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140293019 ISBN 13: 9780140293012

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd, 2000

Synopsis

Cath and Si are best friends. Total opposites, always together and both unlucky in love. Cath is messy and emotionally closed, and Si is impossibly tidy and catty. They live near each other in West Hampstead, close to their other best friends Josh and Lucy - who are married, with a devil-spawn child called Max and a terrifying Swedish nanny, Ingrid.
Then the beautiful Portia steps back into their lives. Portia, who broke their collective hearts one night, and whose reappearance sets off a chain of events that tests Cath and her friends to the limit. Does Portia have a hidden agenda, or is she just looking for happy endings all round? Whatever the answers, none of them could ever predict the outcome...

About this title

Review:

Bookends, Jane Green's third comic novel of contemporary love and lust, proves beyond a doubt that when it comes to light reading, plot is everything. Bookends makes a great case study because it has little going for it besides plot. Dialogue? Stilted. Characters? Clichéd. Writing style? Sloppy. And yet the book is well-nigh impossible to put down. A few friends meet at university: Simon, the chirpy gay character; Portia, the glamour girl; Josh, the adorable, unpretentious catch; and Cath, the overweight, insecure narrator. Portia strays from their crowd, but the other three remain friends into their 30s. Now successful Londoners, each faces a personal crisis: singleton Cath leaves a secure job to start a bookstore; Simon looks for love; Josh's marriage goes through growing pains. And then Portia, as intimidating and elegant as ever, wanders back into their lives--with surprising results. Green is a past master of the ugly-duckling-turned-swan story. Cath's transformation--neatly echoed by the changes in the lives of her friends--is completely addictive. Plot does indeed rule. --Claire Dederer

From the Inside Flap:

On the heels of her national bestsellers "Jemima J and "Mr. Maybe, British sensation Jane Green delivers a sparkling tale of old friends reunited and old jealousies rekindled.
Catherine Warner and Simon Nelson are best friends: total opposites, always together, and both unlucky in love. Cath is scatterbrained, messy, and-since she had her heart broken a few years back-emotionally closed off. Si is impossibly tidy, bitchy, and desperate for a man of his own. They live in London's West Hampstead along with their lifelong friends, Josh and Lucy, who are happily married with a devil-spawn child and a terrifying Swedish nanny, Ingrid.
All's well (sort of) until the sudden arrival of a college friend-the stunningly beautiful Portia, who's known for breaking hearts. Though they've grown up and grown apart from Portia, the four friends welcome her back into the fold. But does Portia have a hidden agenda or is she merely looking to reconnect with old friends? Her reappearance soon unleashes a rollicking series of events that tests the foursome's friendships to the limit and leaves them wondering if a happy ending is in store.
Fortunately, Cath has plenty to take her mind off Portia's schemes-like her gutsy decision to leave her job in advertising to fulfill her dream of opening a bookstore. And then there's James, the sexy real-estate agent who keeps dropping by even after the bookstore deal is done. With his irresistible smile and boyish charm could he be the one to melt Cath's heart?
Told with Jane Green's captivating wit and flare, "Bookends is above all a story about friendship-its twists, turns and complications-and how it weathers the challenges of love, ambition, marriage, and, most of all, growing up. Warmhearted, sophisticated, and full of delicious surprises, "Bookends is Green's most dazzling novel yet.

"From the Hardcover edition.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0140293019
• ISBN 13: 9780140293012
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400