Englischsprachige Literatur

Buchan Elizabeth

The Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman

Penguin, New York 2004

Galbraith3

When I spotted this book, I couldn´t resist. The title is too good. Buchan is really just another journalist, who decided she wanted to be on the other end for a change, not reviewing, but writing books. Her heroine, Rose Lloyd, does book reviews, too, what  a coincidence.

Nathan, her husband of twenty-five years, works at the same publishing house. Her young deputy Minty is her closest friend and confidant. As this is a very conventionally told story in the first person, the reader knows right from the beginning how the plot will develop. Rosamund Pilcher says hello. Rose is such a good person, she can´t even be angry with her husband, when she finally is confronted with the fact that he had been having a love affair with Minty for one year right under Rose´s nose. At the same time Minty snatches her job from her, and Rose finds herself without husband, job, and without her beloved home and garden. So her misery is complete and we truly feel with her.

But then she flees to Paris and her long-term French friend goes shopping with her. They buy some French lingerie and -voila`- Rose´s good spirits are back again. How very English! Helped by her two grown-up children Rose starts getting back at Nathan, who turns out not to be so happy with his new love, after all. He even begs to come back to Rose. But, steeled by her French underwear, she doesn´t let him come back into her life and eventually finds  new love when a lover from long ago turns up and invites her to his French farm.