NEW RELEASE
The Better Half - Sarah Harte (2011)
Anita, married to brash property developer Frank, has been living the high life thanks to the Celtic Tiger. Endless shopping and pampering, restaurant catch-ups and exotic vacations are all part of the extravagant lifestyles of Anita and her friends. Their children have grown up feeling entitled; while the women have had an army of helpers to keep their mansions running. However, now with the Irish economy in freefall, Anita realises it's the rash actions of all their husbands that has helped bring the country to its knees. And each woman is about to find out what happens when their lavish - but rather empty - lives fall apart. With Frank letting her down on another front, Anita - who came from a working-class background - begins to wonder why she never did anything beyond marriage and motherhood. Harte, a former corporate lawyer who is married to a well-known Dublin businessman, offers up an authentic glimpse into Ireland's boom and bust. On the downside, the story jumps around perhaps a bit too much and readers may get lost sometimes with the lingo.
The Better Half, by Sarah Harte, explores what happens to a rich property developer's wife when her life falls to pieces. The summary says: "Anita has lived the high life in Celtic Tiger Ireland, with her wealthy developer husband, Frank, in her enormous home, with their two perfect children. Hers is a luxurious lifestyle of lunches with 'the girls', charity balls and designer-shopping, all oiled by enough salacious gossip about the Dublin smart set to give the National Enquirer a run for its money. Though the recession is proving a challenge, Anita knows that she and Frank will struggle through together - after all, they both came from nothing. However, sitting in her doctor's waiting room one morning Anita hears something that rocks her world. Her discovery shakes both her marriage - and the family she thought happy and secure - to its foundations. Most of all, it shakes up everything she thought she knew about herself. If Anita is to survive the cataclysm she has to find herself again ... but how do you do that when you're a walled-up wife?" The Better Half is out in May. Harte has worked as a corporate lawyer.