Olivia Lichtenstein

Middle-aged Ros goes in for computer-dating and hanging out with her ridiculously too-good-to-be true gay friend when her marriage stalls and her mother dies.

Found the author's constant explanations of her characters actions and back-stories tedious. And - SPOILER ALERT - I fear for our schools if dumb Ros is a typical teacher. The "I like that pina colada song" guy she contacts on a dating website sounds like her husband, her husband is there when she goes to meet her date, but it takes her around another fifty pages to realise that, yep, it is her husband.

The story she is drip-fed of her mother's life in apartheid Africa is far more interesting, but that drama just didn't seem to fit in within the chick-lit (woman-lit?) breezy story that surrounded it.

I gave this an extra star, however for Ros's light-bulb moment:"I know where the dead go. They move into the heads of their loved ones"… (meer)

This book managed to combine chick-lit with more serious writing. The chick-lit is where Ros, the main character, stumbles around her "new life" after separating from her husband and letting the boys off on their gap-year, leaving her alone (thank goodness for her 'gay husband' who was there to support her!). The serious part is her mother's story, which is set in South Africa during the apartheid. I was very absorbed reading about her mother's life in South Africa, I think it should've been a separate book altogether! But the author composed this book beautifully and it wasn't what I was expecting at all.… (meer)