NEW RELEASE


The Divorce Diet - Ellen Hawley (2014)

Abigail, a stay-at-home mum to baby Rosie, loves her food - cooking it, eating it and watching the Food Channel. Wanting to drop some weight she consults a diet book. But soon the extra pounds are the least of her worries when husband Thad announces he's having trouble with the concept of marriage - most specifically being married to her. So she's forced to move back in with her parents and take on waitressing jobs to make ends meet. The story plays out over the first 40 days before leaping ahead several years at the end, and wrapping up with a bunch of recipes. I found it hard to relate to Abigail and apart from some imaginary conversations with her diet guru and some exercise and food intakes notes (a la Bridget Jones), the diet aspect is not really that central a theme. It was more a story about Abigail trying to work through her bitterness and forge ahead with her new life as a single working mother. Although there were lots of humorous passages, I think I was expecting a much spicier tale of revenge and reinvention.



The Divorce Diet, by Ellen Hawley, is a story about self-discovery. The summary says: "Abigail is sure the only thing standing between her and happiness is the weight she gained along with her beloved new baby. Until she instantly loses 170 pounds of husband. When Thad declares that 'this whole marriage thing' is no longer working, a shell-shocked Abigail takes her infant daughter, Rosie, and moves back to her parents' house. Floundering, she turns to an imaginary guru and best friend, the author of her new weight-loss book. But surviving heartache, finding a job, and staying sane as a suddenly single new mom isn't easy, especially on a diet - sorry, life journey. Make an inventory of your skills, Abigail's guru instructs. Abigail loves cooking and preparing food - real food, not the fatless, joyless dishes her diet prescribes, or the instant-frozen-artificially flavoured fare she finds in her mother's kitchen. So far, following everyone else's rules has led to being broke, lonely, and facing a lifetime of poached eggs, faux mayonnaise, and jobs in chain restaurants. What might happen if Abigail followed her own recipe for a good life instead?" The Divorce Diet is out in December 2014.

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