Bitter Sweet Symphony

by Shyama Perera

When Nina's beloved husband abandons ship humming Let Me Entertain You, her world collapses. But not for it's the here and now - we believe in life after love.



This is Nina's it's about darkness and desire, men and menstruation, kids and kindness, vodka and victory, loss and laughter.



A vibrant tale of recovery and rediscovery, it's a battle cry for woman power, a call to pick ourselves up off the floor and party.

Genres: Fiction

225 pages, Paperback

First published April 10, 2014

About the author

I'm a writer with three novels rereleased on Kindle - hurrah! - and I had a short play performed in 2012. I contribute short stories and essays to anthologies, and am delighted that from September 2014, I'll be running a literary criticism group in London for the Royal Literary Fund. If you're in the city and off on Monday mornings, join. It's free! You can find out more at www.tricyclereaders.com I pay the bills as a communications consultant, which is a really good way of using all the tricks one learns as a writer commercially - research, information sorting, narrative structure, networking and staying on message. I'm also embarking on a fifth novel (my mojo went AWOL in a fit of pique when publishers rejected the fourth) and hoping that I get this one past 30,000 words, which is always the tipping point for me.

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story of a middle class, middle-aged woman whose husband walks out of their marriage one day without warning starts of brilliantly. It's witty, poignant, cleverly structured and feels incredibly real. Unfortunately, it doesn't live up to its promise.

Throughout the book the dialogue stays sharp but that's always the best part of the writing. Characterisation and setting are flimsy and plot nearly non-existent. About half way through I realised that I couldn't remember who everybody was. All the characters just seemed to be names and all they ever did was wander around Soho, drinking a lot of alcohol and ranting about men.

It's a shame because this is nearly a terrific novel but it feels too much like its based on the author's own experience. If she'd invented more there might have been some events to provide a relief from all the conversations about how women are always left to clear up the mess. It's superior chic-lit but it could have been so much more.

[Tara Anderton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a great way of showing single mothers how to get through a divorce with dignity. I liked the quirky one liners and the sarcasm.