BOOK REVIEW: Plotting for Beginners by Sue Hepworth and Jane Linfoot

Despite the title, Plotting for Beginners by Sue Hepworth and Jane Linfoot isn't a writing guide, but, as the subtitle says, 'a novel for new beginnings.' Sally Howe and her husband are spending a year apart, as he wants to live in a cabin in the American wilderness and she wants to write a novel and launch a career in journalism. Says Sally, "Women reach fifty and think they're on the verge of liberation and excitement, and their broken-down men just want to stay home and fart. Or in my case, go and live in a cabin in the Rockies and fart."

On dropping Gus off at the airport, however, Sally is shocked that he considers the Rockies just the start of his overseas adventures - the year after, he's thinking of Australia! So instead of happily singing along to Fred Astaire and facing a self-indulgent year ahead, Sally spends the journey home worrying about the possible disintegration of her marriage - and its effect on her writing plans...

She soon finds out she won't be as alone as she thought, when her newly-separated brother comes to stay (and insists on keeping interrupting her writing for her opinion on his DIY), her youngest son keeps coming home for a visit and her brother's attractive single friend keeps calling in to see her...

Plotting for Beginners is a wonderfully funny novel about starting again after your children have left home, your husband is AWOL and you want to fulfill your dreams. I loved Sally's voice, the diary format, the secondary characters and the  book as a whole. Anyone who's interested in writing, or lives in the same are of the country as Sally (or both, like me!) will find it especially entertaining, but they're by no means prerequisites for enjoying the book. Please don't think that the fact Sally is in her 50s means you won't relate to her - she's so likable that anyone will, and you'll be willing her on to literacy success, and laughing out loud at some of the ups and downs of her year alone. You'll also be hoping that she'll find a satisfactory solution to her relationship difficulties...

I found this an enormously satisfying, well-written and perfectly-plotted novel with a main character who's as lovable and funny as Bridget Jones - if a tad more prone to a hot flush...

Read it!

Rating: 5 out of 5

Sue Hepworth has a blog where you can even read a short-lived blog by main character Sally, and see pictures of some of the sites mentioned in the book- very postmodern! You can also find out more about the author...

Like this? Try Having it and Eating it by Sabine Durrant.

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