Bookends - Softcover

Green, Jane

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140276521 ISBN 13: 9780140276527

Publisher: Penguin UK, 2010

Synopsis

Jane Green, author of the best-sellers Second Chance and Straight Talking, examines friendships and their limits in her highly entertaining novel Bookends. On the shelf, but still best friends . . . Cath is scatty, messy and guarded. While Si is impossibly tidy, bitchy and desperate for a man of his own. They are total opposites - but equally unlucky in love. And they've stuck together through thick and thin. Because that's what best friends do. So when their beautiful friend Portia - the undisputed queen of their group of friends at university - steps back into their lives, after a ten year gap, her reappearance tests both Cath and Si's friendship to the limit. What does Portia want? Will she be a force for good in their lives, or something darker? And will Cath and Si ever get lucky in love? 'Funny and poignant - you'll devour it in one sitting' Cosmopolitan 'Quick, witty, unputdownable and perfect beach reading' Daily Mirror 'Hugely enjoyable' Daily Express Best selling author Jane Green has captured the imaginations of readers in the UK and the US with her frank and funny approach to those day-to-day issues that affect women everywhere. Other titles also published by Penguin include The Other Woman, Jemima J., Babyville, The Love Verb (published as Promises to Keep in the USA), Girl Friday (Dune Road), Life Swap (Swapping Lives), The Patchwork Marriage (Another Piece of My Heart), Spellbound (To Have and to Hold), The Beach House, and Mr. Maybe.

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 UK
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0140276521
• ISBN 13: 9780140276527
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400