NEW RELEASE
Friends Like These - Wendy Harmer (2011)
Jo Blanchard loved her job as deputy head of a prestigious Sydney girls' school. But when she discovers her husband JJ - a luxury car dealer with political aspirations - has been having it off with one of the other DOGs (Darling Old Girls), she makes a stand during speech night and is sacked. Now she is about to perform her first ceremony as a civil celebrant but even in her new life she can't get away from the unforgiving school community. Meanwhile her friend Suze, a former school admin worker who opened a florist shop after winning Lotto, has her own problems. Not only has her husband gambled away all the money, she has been harbouring an explosive secret that's about to be uncovered. Harmer is at her best while making tart observations about the social set.
Australian comedienne Wendy Harmer's latest novel Friends Like These is a comedy of manners set among the wealthy elite of Sydney. The summary says: "Greed, fraud, betrayal and resurrection - this is a search for something to believe in. A search that takes us to a baby-naming, a same-sex wedding and a funeral all performed by Jo Blanchard, newly trained civil celebrant. Jo - recently single, 45-year-old mother of two - is the former deputy headmistress of Sydney's most exclusive private girls' school, Darling Point Ladies College. A year ago she was forced to abandon her post in a scandal that had all the social set talking. In fact, they're still talking. Jo is moving on - but with friends like hers, maybe leaving them behind is her only option." Friends Like These is out in April.