View source for What Women Want by Fanny Blake

{{infobox1
|title=What Women Want
|author=Fanny Blake
|reviewer=Sue Magee
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=A book which will probably appeal to the middle-aged rather than the young woman - but it's a warm and engaging look at the lives of three women.
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=432
|publisher=Blue Door
|date=April 2011
|isbn=978-0007359097
|website=http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/Authors/8857/fanny-blake
|cover=0007359098
|aznuk=0007359098
|aznus=0007359098
}}

I'll be honest: I had my doubts about this book.  Fanny Blake is a well-known journalist and she's also written for programmes such as ''Location, Location, Location'' and ''A Place in the Sun''.  I wasn't entirely certain how this would fit with a book about the lives of three middle-aged women who are dealing with change in their lives – and they're not moving house.  I sat down to have a quick look to see if it was going to be worth reviewing…

… and emerged the following day having only put the book down with a great deal of reluctance on a couple of occasions in the meantime.  OK, I'm perhaps ''upper'' middle age rather than middle-aged, but I've got friends like Bea, Kate and Ellen.  Bea has been divorced just long enough to want to risk getting her toes back in the dating water, but she's trying to grapple with problems at work at the same time. Her boss could give 'Fred the Shred' a run for his money and don't even get me started on the younger colleague who's not just waiting for Bea to make a mistake – she'll help her all she can.  The home's no picnic either with a stroppy teenage son.

Kate's a busy GP and becoming a partner should have been OK now that most of the children have left home.  Her husband is in hedge funds and whilst Kate can't quite put her finger on what's wrong she knows that there's more pressure than passion in the marriage.  The third of the women is Ellen and she seems to be the one who has a smile on her face.  After ten years as a widow when she's wanted nothing more than to devote herself to her two children, she has met that elusive Mr Right.  He's a little younger than her but it's obvious that he adores her and can't do enough for her.  Or she for him.

It's character- rather than plot-driven, but that's no problem when you have three such wonderful female leads.  Bea's feisty and occasionally too headstrong for her own good.  Sometimes she had me howling with laughter and then I'd be close to tears.  Kate is quieter, more considered but a staunch friend.  And Ellen?  Well, Oliver's presence in her life means that she has to re-evaluate an awful lot which she's taken for granted – and which her children have taken for granted too.

Fanny Blake has a very easy style that pulls you in, offers you a glass of wine and invites you to put your feet up and relax.  There never seemed to be a point when I didn't know these women and understand what was going on in their lives.  I didn't just know the ''what'', I understood the ''why'' too.  It's a great story, full of warmth and understanding and I loved it.

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.

You might also enjoy [[A Matter of Degree by Zoe Simpson]].

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