Not quite 'Sex in the City!' (City Girl - Patricia Scanlan)

Member Name: kingfisher111

Product:	City Girl - Patricia Scanlan
Date:	18/05/09 (153 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: fabulous read

Disadvantages: none!

I read a book by Patricia Scanlan a couple of months ago and I enjoyed it so much I knew that I would have to read more by this brilliant author. My mum had read City Girl and passed it on to me so I very happily set to reading it. I was a bit concerned though because this was one of the first books she had written back in 1990 and I sometimes feel that authors are like wines - they get better with age. Therefore was I likely to get the same thrill from one of her earliest publications? I can tell you that I was not in the least disappointed as this book was just as good as her most recent one - which was the one I had previously read.

City Girl follows the lives of three friends - Devlin. Maggie and Caroline. The book is divided into different sections starting with a prologue where the women are anticipating meeting up for a weekend together. We are then transported back in time with each of the three of them having sections dedicated to their own stories. We see each of them round about their early twenties and they are then each revisited a few years later. They all feature in all of the stories but have their own focus in their particular one. Finally, the epilogue brings us right up to the present and the eagerly anticipated weekend mentioned at the start. I really liked the way the novel was organised like this and it was easy for the reader to see where it was all going.

Each of the three women has a fascinating and compelling story to tell. If this was not fiction, their lives would be quite tragic. Devlin has an affair with a married man who drops her when she becomes pregnant and insists on her having an abortion. Caroline has extremely low self esteem and is desperate not to be left on the shelf which is why she marries Richard even though she has severe doubts about their relationship. Maggie has a good career but gives it up to marry and have children but always has the feeling that what she has is not quite enough. Picking up their stories later, the reader can see how they have each dealt with their lot and how the choices they have made have influenced their characters and their outlook on life. What comes through very strongly though, is the depth of the friendship between the three women - when all else fails they always have each other and that is the most important thing for them.

All three women's characters are very well developed and I found myself liking and feeling for each of them. They are not perfect and they do make mistakes but that's what makes them seem real. As you read the book, you almost feel as if you are reading about your own friends!

I thought this was an exceptionally well crafted novel and my attention was not lost at all. I was really hooked by all the events, but I liked the fact that it had the ability to surprise me too - and there definitely a couple of things that you don't see coming! The book does also leave you wondering what might happen to the women subsequently but then you can never know everything. However, I have now discovered that Patricia Scanlan has written two more books about the three women so maybe I will find out after all!

Like the previous Patricia Scanlan novel I had read, this one is also set around Dublin. There are quite a few Irish writers that I like and I have read many novels that are set in the city so I almost feel like I know it even though I have never visited.

Overall, this is a great novel if you enjoy chic lit. It's a great story with very believeable characters. At times you might laugh and at other times you are likely to be close to tears - all the necessary ingredients for a good read!

The paperback is available on Amazon for £5.49.

Summary: Another excellent book by Patricia Scanlan