Every Good Girl

by Judy Astley

PEACE AT LAST? NOT LIKELY!

After twenty years of marriage, Nina had offloaded serial philanderer Joe and was happy enough, thank you, coping alone with their two demanding daughters and her own hectic life. It felt like freedom, not having to wonder constantly where Joe was, who with and up to what.

But into Nina's new, carefree life some disturbing elements began to appear. A flasher had been accosting young girls on the nearby common, leaving every man in the area under suspicion. Home, to Nina, no longer felt so safe. And Joe, during one of his oh-so-civilised monthly lunches with Nina, revealed that the new love in his life, pin-thin, power-dressed Catherine, had decided that she now required a baby.

But babies, Joe told Nina, were what he did with her: a remark that Nina found oddly unsettling...

Genres: Audiobook, Chick Lit

240 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1998

About the author

Judy Astley started writing in 1990 following several years of working as a dressmaker, illustrator, painter and parent. Her sixteen novels, the most recent of which are Laying The Ghost and Other People¹s Husbands, are all published by Transworld/Black Swan. Judy¹s specialist areas, based on many years of hectic personal experience, are domestic disharmony and family chaos with a good mix of love-and-passion and plenty of humour thrown in. Judy has been a regular columnist on magazines and enjoys writing journalism pieces on just about any subject, usually from a fun viewpoint. She lives in London and Cornwall, loves plants, books, hot sunshine and rock music (all at once, preferably) and would happily claim that listening in to other people¹s conversations is both a top hobby and an absolute career-necessity

Reviews

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

"After 20 years of marriage, Nina has off-loaded serial-philanderer Joe and is happy coping alone with their two daughters. But then some disturbing elements begin to appear in her new, carefree life - including the flasher on the common and Joe's revelation that his girlfriend wants a baby."

Entertaining chicklit.

[Julie Dunnett · Rating 4 out of 5]

This s definitely one of her better books. Some of the characters are more likeable but the attitudes in the book are not very attractive. Joe is a selfish womaniser and Nina is a bir bland. There are a lot of unexplained issues. They are people I don’t understand!

[Tilly · Rating 1 out of 5]

0.5 stars rounded up.

Nina has finally left her cheating husband, but because of their children she is still in contact with him. And now he's talking about children with his new partner, but that's something he does with Nina.

This was ridiculous, there are no likable characters, the storyline isn't gripping. I really should have DNFed

[penelopewanders]

As is often the case with books I take out of the library swap shelf, I had no idea what to expect. Despite the unpleasantness of the main character's mother, and the ickiness of the mother - son relationship, at the end of the day all the characters were quite winning. The "bad guy" was a bit obvious, but it was an enjoyable holiday read. Mine has a different cover, but I can't find it here.

[Tamara Epps · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much better than I expected, and although it had a predictable ending, it was a very enjoyable read.

[LindyLouMac · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read in 1998