My Life in Black and White (2013)

Clara Bishop is a tabloid journalist from Hollywood who originally had a dream of becoming a famous screenwriter. Unexpectedly, Clara discovers her husband, Dean, is having an affair with a young, blonde waitress named Amber and their marriage is over. Clara can't let it go and follows Dean to London in order to win him back, with only an old trunk filled with her grandmother's vintage dresses. As Clara starts wearing these glamorous clothes, she slowly starts to change into a true femme fatale herself. Before she knows it, she suddenly finds herself in the city of London in the year 1952, starring in a film noir about her own life, with the opportunity to change not only her own destiny, but also her grandmother's. From the start of this novel, I was hooked by the story. Clara is a great protagonist; at first going through various difficulties (her husband cheating on her, still missing the child she never had, not being happy with her career choices, the strained relationship with her mother). Yet, Clara manages to find the strength within her to take all of this on board and deal with it. The whole atmosphere of the novel was just fabulous: from the glamorous vintage dresses and the shadowy film noir elements to the parts of film script included and the font of the chapter headings... Everything about this novel has been thought through and provides the reader with the opportunity of going back to London in the 1950s and joining Clara on her journey. My Life in Black and White is incredibly well-written, original and a novel different kinds of readers will thoroughly enjoy... A definite must-read! (JoH)

The Jane Austen Marriage Manual (2012)

The recession hits and Kate finds herself without a job, savings or a home. When her magazine throws her a lifeline to write an article exploring whether she's too old to marry well, she jumps at the chance. Her quest for a rich husband takes her to follow the polo trail from Palm Beach to St Moritz. Helped along by her new title of "Lady Kate" she soon has rich men in her sights, from Vlad the Russian billionaire to Scott Madewell, the financial whiz. But will Kate's article get the ending she desperately wants? This book is laugh-out-loud funny in places, and the ending properly made me swoon. I have to admit I was expecting a completely different book from the title. While the storyline is reminiscent of a modern take on a Jane Austen novel, I found the actual references to Austen in the novel a little clumsy. That aside, it is an entertaining read and a good debut novel. (AB)

Back to Authors I