Everything She Thought She Wanted
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4.6 • 7 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Elizabeth Buchan’s beloved bestsellers, Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman and The Good Wife Strikes Back, have made her an icon of upmarket women’s fiction. Taking her characteristic wit and emotional resonance to a new level, her latest novel focuses on two lives separated by forty years of history. In 1959, a forty-something married mother finds herself immersed in a surprisingly passionate affair with a younger man, while in the present, a professional woman faces a daunting choice between her blossoming career and her husband’s desire for children. Mirroring each other in surprising ways, these twin stories offer a deliciously readable funny and moving look at the battle of the sexes across time—and deliver another smart, nuanced novel for Elizabeth Buchan’s growing fans.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The separate stories of two women one a career-driven late 20th-century professional and the other a 1950s housewife are awkwardly juxtaposed in this third novel by British author Buchan (Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman; The Good Wife Strikes Back). Thirty-five-year-old Siena Grant enjoys a life that many women only dream of. A highly successful fashion consultant with her own business, a magazine column, a book deal and an American television show, Siena is also married to a loving, sensitive man. She and Charlie live in a trendy flat and enjoy intimate little suppers. What more could anybody want? For starters, Charlie is dreaming of a country home and children not a life that appeals to the oh-so-chic Siena. Meanwhile, in 1959, 42-year-old Barbara Beeching, a married mother of two grown children, lives with her pilot husband, Ryder, in a charming country home and hosts the most delightful little parties. Perfect partners, Barbara and Ryder survived the atrocities of war over England and now face the rest of their lives as Ryder thinks of retirement and Barbara thinks of... Alexander Liberty, a hunky psychiatry student whose passion for her takes her by surprise. The ungainly setup the two stories only glancingly connect at the novel's conclusion is partly mitigated by Buchan's warm writing and her realistic portrayal of the choices women continue to face, but this isn't quite up to the standard of her previous two outings.
Customer Reviews
Everything she thought she wanted
Wow! Very readable ,especially in the last 3/4. The author leaves a lot of unanswered questions but clearly leaves it up to the reader to determine who Barbara's baby belongs to. I have a hunch, but as Barbara says "It's her weight to bear." I won't reveal anymore but I enjoyed the way Barbara's voice ends. Gosh I wish the author would've revealed the baby's father! It would have been a hot book rather than just a chic fic. All and all the book was satisfying and I learned a little on how to camouflage areas in the body that need a little fashion 101.