NEW RELEASE
Shall We Dance? - Maggie Alderson (2010)
It just wouldn't be a Maggie Alderson novel without fashion and a gay friend. In this case, the heroine Loulou runs a successful vintage clothing shop in London. And she not only has the very camp Keith in her life, she also is very close to rock legend Richard, who has a penchant for much younger women. Her petulant 21-year-old daughter Theo never seems to date and Loulou is wondering if her own reluctance in this field may be partly responsible. With her 49th birthday looming (much to her dismay she's going camping at a music festival), Loulou organises a matchmaking party for her daughter. And both women meet someone - someone not entirely suitable. Told from the viewpoints of both Loulou and Theo, this throws the spotlight on the fraught mother-daughter relationship, not losing your cool as you grow older, and whether attraction should overrule commonsense.
Maggie Alderson's sixth novel, Shall We Dance?, is out in October. The summary says: "Loulou Landers is about to turn 49 and she's feeling seriously overlooked. She hasn't had a relationship for 20 years, her 21-year-old daughter Theo is giving her the cold shoulder, and is that really a bunion making it so painful to walk, or is Christian Louboutin losing his touch? Theo can't see what her mum is so hung up about. It's only another birthday. And she has more important things to think about - mainly herself. For not only is Loulou permanently single, but so is Theo - despite her legendary good looks. But over the course of a summer, everything changes. Two men set out to get both women back in the love game. The only problem is that both mother and daughter keep their burgeoning romances secret from each other. Because, in each case, there's a 30-year age difference. And that's only one of the issues."