NEW RELEASE
Here Come the Girls - Milly Johnson (2011)
Four Yorkshire schoolfriends, Olive, Roz, Frankie and Ven, vow to spend their 40th year on a cruise together. Now years later, the moment has arrived. But a meal down the local Italian restaurant seems a more realistic way to celebrate Ven's milestone birthday. Olive is a house cleaner who lives at the beck and call of her slobby husband David and invalid mother-in-law Doreen. Roz is living with the lovely mechanic Manus but she just can't let her defences down after a bad experience with her ex. Not only is she pushing him away, she's no longer talking to Frankie. And Ven has lost her job and been taken to the cleaners by her husband - but she's determined to reunite her friends on a cruise. Soon the girls are walking the gangplank on to Mermaidia but it's obvious that Ven's hiding something. As the ship sets sail for Greece, new friends and loves are made, and it seems that these four women will leave the trip completely different people. For those wondering what life is like on a cruise, Johnson paints a vivid picture, from the seasickness and annoying passengers, to all the culinary delights and on-board entertainment. And a bit like that once-in-a-lifetime holiday, you just never really want it all to end.
Here Come the Girls by Milly Johnson centres around four friends on a cruise. The summary says: "Ven, Roz, Olive and Frankie have been friends since school. They daydreamed of glorious futures, full of riches, romance and fabulous jobs. The world would be their oyster. Twenty-five years later, Olive cleans other people's houses to support her lazy, out-of-work husband and his ailing mother. Roz cannot show her kind, caring husband Manus any love because her philandering ex has left her trust in shreds. And she and Frankie have fallen out big time. But Ven is determined to reunite her friends and realise the dream they had of taking a cruise before they hit 40. Before they know it, the four of them are far from home, on the high seas. But can blue skies, hot sun and 16 days of luxury and indulgence distract from the tension and loneliness that await their return?" Here Come the Girls is out in April. Johnson has another novel - An Autumn Crush - due out in September.