Getting Over It - Anna Maxted

Helen Bradshaw is 26. She lives in a rented flat with her two flatmates - Marcus her landlord and her friend Luke. She drives a bashed up old Toyota car and works on a women’s magazine. Her boyfriend is Jasper, but things aren’t going too well and she’s thinking of dumping him. Then her life collapses – her father has a massive heart attack and she rushes to be by his side. The next few hours are spent at the hospital with her mother and Nana Flo. Helen has never been close to her Dad and finds it hard to relate to him, even as he lays unconscious in a hospital bed. She wants to tell him she loves him but can’t, so reads extracts from a newspaper out loud ...

Well I had to buy this book didn't I? You see the main character in the book is called Helen Bradshaw. However, on reading the book, that is where the similarities between me and my fictional namesake end, and my daily life seems a lot less complicated than hers does. The book was first published in 2000 and is available for £5.99 from Randomhouse Publishing. Anna Maxted is 31 and this is her first book. She is married and lives in London with her husband and two cats. The book is written in a broadly similar style to Bridget Jones, in that it simply tells the tales of Helen in her daily life as a single girl. She is 26 years old and ...