Every Woman for Herself

July 1, 2003
In her American debut, Briton Ashley gives us the tired tale of a middle-aged woman being dumped by her husband and left to face the usual assortment of post-divorce difficulties. Dim job prospects and losing her home force Charlotte Rhymer to take up temporary residence in her father's guest cottage. It doesn't take too many pages before various siblings and her father's latest lady friend all manage to contribute to Charlotte's angst and misery. Eventually, Charlotte lands a part-time job at a local day-care nursery. We aren't one bit surprised to find that the handsome playwright who comes to pick up his small daughter after school will soon be taking Charlotte home as well. Although there is occasionally a funny line, the humor is for the most part forced and overshadows the worn story. With romance writers like Jennifer Crusie and Jayne Ann Krentz doing the witty and wacky romantic genre so much better, it will take a bit more effort from Ashley before American readers embrace her. A marginal purchase for most public libraries.-Margaret Hanes, Sterling Heights P.L., MI

Copyright 2003 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2003
On the surface, the plot of Ashley's quirky contribution to the divorcee-starting-life-over-again genre should be straightforward, but it's not, and neither are the characters in this uproarious coming-of-middle-age novel. While packing up the detritus of her 20-year marriage, Charlotte inadvertently whacks her neighbor's lecherous husband over the head with some cookware, and though his death is ruled accidental, his widow, Angie, doesn't agree. With shouts of "murderess!" ringing in her ears, Charlotte returns to the bosom of her loving, if loony, family and promptly jumps from the frying pan into the fire, so to speak. In this sleepy Yorkshire village, Charlotte's sister keeps company with a coven of would-be witches and her father with a dimwitted mistress, but it is a local celebrity, hunky actor Mace North, who has the potential to turn Charlotte's world upside-down, or right-side up, depending on your perspective. Giggles, guffaws, chortles, and chuckles abound in Ashley's cleverly satirical send-up of upper-class British snobbery and soap-opera stardom that is truly laugh-out-loud funny.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)