Selfish Jean
“Selfish Jean is very funny, very moving and has a clever revelatory twist in the tail. Women of all ages – and men trying to understand women – will love this frank funny, sensitive book”
“A talented writer.” & “There is plenty to like about Selfish Jean….Cate Sweeney’s handling of both comic and dark strands is confident.” Nicholas Clee, Times Literary Supplement. March 31st.
Synopsis
She wants to be a successful art photographer, but no one likes her work. She wants a child, but is virtually menopausal. She wants to stay with her husband, though she's not sure she likes him anymore. She wants an affair with Paul, but he is the social worker assessing them to be adoptive parents. And on top of that, she thinks the social worker used to be her best friend's old flame, but decides not to tell either of them.
Jeanette and Sam have been together a long time. Unable to have their own children, they have decided to adopt. However, while she is developing an obsession with Paul, the oh-so-serious social worker, Sam is involved in a thing that's not yet a fling, but heading that way. Is her relationship with Sam in such trouble? Or do they just need some children in their life? Then everything will be all right, won't it? Juxtaposed with Jeanette's first person narrative is the story of Levi, a young boy trapped in the care system, who is allowed no say about his life at all. We learn how he was taken away from his mother, along with his little sister, and moved from foster home to foster home, then back to his mother, a decision that ultimately leads to tragedy.
Some comments about.....
Nicholas Clee, Times Literary Supplement, 31 March, 2006
"There is plenty to like about Selfish Jean . . . It is a slice of domestic realism . . . [a] talented writer"
Shameless words blog."I think the novel is a master class in how an author needs to find an original "voice" and keep it going until the end."
Grumpy Old Bookman blog. " This is not your average, predictable feel-good book. It's a cut above that."
Product Details:
· Hardcover 224 pages (April 7, 2006)
· Publisher: Macmillan New Writing
· Language: English
· ISBN: 0230001858
