Changes

Now here's a strange thing: a spell is going to spread through the town and the women will find the touch of their husbands – or boyfriends – repulsive and there will be no more sex. That's no just ''no more sex until…'' – it's ''no more sex''. Dory and Robby are one of the first to be affected.

The book started with something of a disadvantage. The Sunday Times is quoted as saying that ''Wolitzer could describe paint drying and make it funny''. Now, I didn't find it that funny. I thought it was provocative and delightfully insightful about how men and women relate to each other. I loved the characters – particularly Dory Lang who might be an excellent teacher but is still just a little bit too much the mother on occasions and Willa, her daughter. The women are stronger than the men, but with as good a writer as Wolitzer, such matters are relative. She has the marvellous talent of writing about ordinary people – and letting them be gloriously ordinary.