Hens Reunited by Lucy Diamond

Hens Reunited by Lucy Diamond
Buy Hens Reunited by Lucy Diamond at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Women's Fiction
Reviewer: Sue Magee
Summary: A relaxing and engaging read about friendship between three young women. It's well-written and with great characters - definitely recommended.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 400	Date: August 2009
Publisher: Pan
ISBN: 978-0330464352
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It began as long ago as a February night in 1994 when Katie was the first of the girls to have her hen night. There were quite a few at the table, including her best friends, Alice and Georgia. Her marriage to Neil wasn't to last though. He wanted children and she didn't, but it was finding him the spare bedroom getting some baby-making practice with a neighbour that was the final straw. Georgia's hen night was more than four years later. She's a gossip columnist and marriage to playboy Harry Stone is going to do her no harm at all so far as the job went, but Harry's coke habit finished the marriage within six months.

It was November 2002 before Alice had her hen night and it was a more sedate affair than either Katie or Georgia. She opted for a weekend at a health spa before her wedding to Jake Archer, the up-and-coming actor who just couldn't get enough of her. Will this be the one marriage of the three that might stay the course? Move on to 2008 and we'll find out…

The three girls are still around but the friendship is a little fractured after the comings and goings of the intervening years. Georgia is still a gossip columnist 24/7, but Katie is a teacher and Alice is mum to baby Iris. I'm not going to tell you what happens to them all – that's something that you'll have to find out for yourself – but it's an excellent story about friendship and life as the first decade of the twenty-first century draws to a close. We see the fascination with celebrity at first hand, the problems of teaching Maths to those who don't think that it adds up and the trials and tribulations of bringing up a baby in a small village.

It's about the three girls. Men are there (well, obviously) but they're not the story. And what girls they are. I thought I might not take to Katie, scarred by her mother's cavalier attitude to parenting and determined to be independent. Well, that's the best way not to get hurt, isn't it? She can be pig-headed and definitely doesn't know which side her bread is buttered on, but you can't help but warm to her. Georgia you can hate – except, well, you can't. She might be callous about getting stories and unworried by whom she hurts, but there's a softer side that only emerges when she sees her grandmother in hospital. And Alice – well, Alice you could eat her with a spoon.

I did enjoy this book. It's well-written and despite the fact that most of us don't meet gossip columnists and up-and-coming actors on a daily basis they're people you feel you can get to know. The story is great too – and I really was wondering how it was going to work out. If you're looking for a relaxing read that's better than your average chick-lit then it's a book you're going to enjoy.

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

We enjoyed Lucy Diamond's Any Way You Want Me. If this is the type of book you like we think that The Kinsella Sisters by Kate Thompson will appeal to you too.

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Chloe said:

I loved Lucy Diamond's first 2 books, so am very much looking forward to this one coming out. A great review.