Taking Over

The authors of All About Camilla (Scarborough House, 1986) and Swapping ( LJ 6/1/88) present another witty satire with a feminist twist. Pooling their fashion and business expertise, Pauline, Julia, Emily, and Sybilla, four English upper-middle-class housewives, open Natural Sources, a dress shop that rapidly expands into an international fashion empire. When their respective husbands, all of whom work for Bolsover Engineering, lose their jobs through a corporate takeover, the ensuing role reversals provide a bird's-eye view into the weaknesses of the traditional family structure. The plot device of alternating chapters, where the same events are described by Pauline, Natural Source's Creative Designer, and her husband George, the ex-Sales Director of Bolsover, heightens the fun. If the polemic occasionally gets a trifle heavy-handed, it is quickly relieved by the sharp dialog and flashing humor. Recommended for public libraries.
- Harriet Gottfried, NYPL
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.