Getting Home

by Celia Brayfield

There is only one rule in a suburb – never trust your neighbours. Nothing bad ever happens in Westwick; that’s why people live there. Your neighbours are such nice people, TV stars, property developers, yummy mummies who meet for cappuccino in the ultimate nappy valley. And Stephanie Sands, with her loving husband, adorable son, dream job and a beautiful garden . It’s all just peachy for Stephanie until the day her husband is kidnapped. Big mistake, losing your husband in the suburbs. it’s a jungle out there – adultery, blackmail, sleaze in high places and lust on the lawns,. Old friends desert her, new ones rally round. Finally Westwick scrambles the helicopters and takes to the streets with an army of eco-warriors in the hilarious live-TV climax. The first Westwick novel from Celia Brayfield, observing suburban dreams in conflict with human reality. “With sharp wit and snappy dialogue, Brayfield has produced a very funny, cleverly plotted novel.” Daily Telegraph.

Genres: Fiction

454 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1998

About the author

Celia Brayfield has written four non-fiction books and nine novels of which Mister Fabulous and Friends is currently in development for television. Her novel Heartswap was optioned by Paramount and Harvest for Chrysalis Films. Celia is currently working on a series of historical novels. She also teaches Creative Writing at Bath Spa University and Brunel University.

After attending St Paul's Girls' School in London, Celia went to Grenoble University in France to study French Language and Literature, before moving into journalism at The Times. She has one daughter and lives in Oxfordshire.

Reviews

[The Cats’ Mother · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was OK, I found the bitterness somewhat wearying, but eventually the story did get going. It was hard to care about any of the characters. and very irritating trying to work out whether it was set in the US or UK (never specified, not sure if this was deliberate!)

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Witty account of intrigue, relationships and family life in suburbia. Some fun descriptions, and story unravels in a sitcom kind of way. Only less credible part was that a town council would side with a property developer out of self interest - shome mishtake, shurely? ;)

[Tracy Grant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as funny as I thought it would be. The last 50 pages were the best.

[Emma Long · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took a while to get into but was a reasonable quick read.

[Kerry Smart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun and light entertaining read. Good holiday chick lit

[JenniferB]

"Trash" type novel - easy to read, up to date, some good bits