Babyville
A Novel
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3.5 • 30 Ratings
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
On the heels of her three runaway hits, Bookends, Mr. Maybe, and Jemima J, Jane Green delivers a sparkling, sexy tale about the complexities of modern motherly love.
Bestselling author Jane Green has won the hearts of thousands of readers with her fresh take on single life and the dating jungle. Now in Babyville, she applies her golden touch to the next phase of a girl’s life, in an irresistible new novel about two young women coping with the chimes of their biological clocks, and one independent glamour-girl who tries to tune hers out.
Meet Julia, a wildly successful television producer who appears to have the picture-perfect life. But beneath the surface, things are not as perfect as they seem. Stuck in a loveless relationship with her boyfriend, Mark, Julia thinks a baby is the answer . . . but she may want a baby more than she wants her boyfriend. Will a trip to New York City with a jet-setting friend—and all the glittering energy and eligible men the city brings—help her discover what she really needs?
Maeve, on the other hand, is allergic to commitment. A feisty, red-haired, high-power career girl, she cherishes her ability to do just as she pleases and breaks out in a rash every time she passes a stroller. But when her no-strings-attached nightlife leads to an unexpected pregnancy, her reaction may be just as unexpected.And then there’s Samantha—happily married and eager to be the perfect June Cleaveresque mother. But baby George brings only exhaustion, extra pounds, and marital strife to her once tidy life. Is having an affair with a friend’s incredibly sexy husband the answer?
By turns witty, rollicking, and tender, Babyville isn’t really a story about babies—it’s about three friends whose lives are suddenly turned upside-down by that life-changing event that hangs over the head of every girl: motherhood.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Green chronicled the London singles scene with wit and verve in Bookends and Mr. Maybe. Moving on from 20-somethings to 30-somethings, her airily absorbing new novel tracks the dilemmas of highly motivated career women faced with the dreaded baby decision. Julia, a 33-year-old TV producer, has lived with boyfriend Mark for four years, but feels that the relationship has gone stale. She decides they need a baby and becomes obsessed with getting pregnant. She tries all the pregnancy-producing tips she hears: legs in the air for five minutes after coitus, creative visualization, a fertility incantation complete with dancing around a burning candle. All to no avail. Her friend Bella visits from New York, where she is a happily single party animal, and she persuades Julia that a vacation might help. While Julia is in New York, ambitious Maeve is hired to replace her at the TV studio. She's determined to make the big time, adept enough at office politics to sleep with a power figure and definitely averse to emotional attachment. Kids are not on the agenda, but after a one-night stand she winds up pregnant and the father is Julia's supposedly infertile boyfriend, Mark. Meanwhile, Julia's friend Sam has recently become the mother of baby George, but finds that "nothing had prepared her for the loneliness and the boredom" of having an infant. Sam suffers the familiar postpartum depression symptoms until she falls in love with the husband of a new close friend. There's enough suspense and humor to make up for some clich d characters, and Green keeps the dialogue snappy and the pace fast.
