Due to a medical condition, Ruby hides her body and herself away and works at home touching up photos to erase the flaws. She shares custody of her three-year-old daughter Bonnie with her ex but hasn’t really bonded with the little girl.
Event planner Beth is busy finalising the wedding arrangements for a celebrity client. Her husband has taken paternity leave to look after their four-year-old son but in the meantime has lost interest in her sexually.
Lauren curates the perfect image on her Instagram feed and is marrying a successful businessman but does she really have the dream life?
This is a superbly written story about three women who have to come to terms with the problems in their lives. Ruby's story, in particular, is very moving. One to add to this year's must-read list.
The protagonists of this novel are three women living in London. They don’t know each other but fate and the internet bring them together. Tara is a single mother in search of true love. Cam is an English Carrie Bradshaw who lives her life through the internet. And Stella lives in the shadow of her dead twin sister and is desperate for a baby. Tara’s supposedly private moment on the tube that becomes a viral video and Cam’s admission that she doesn’t want children makes them the target for criticism and insult but as Cam tells Tara, “don’t follow the herd, you know? Live your life your own way.”
With strong and engaging characters, I especially loved Tara and Cam who stand by their principles and decisions no matter what society tells them. Throughout the novel I didn’t really like Stella and was worried for her mental health, but in the end she turns out a stronger and more likable character. A thought-provoking and frank novel set in the age of social media where there is no privacy anymore and everything you do may end up online for everyone to see. This is a captivating and refreshing story about sex, pregnancy, abortion, marriage, and the role of women in society and what is expected from them. (NP)
