INDIA KNIGHT

Clara, 33 anni, sposata con due figli, scrive per una rivista. Non e particolarmente carina, i figli dei suoi amici le danno sui nervi, cerca di essere una buona madre e una buona moglie, ma non e molto sicura di cosa si deve fare. Nell'accompagnare i bambini a scuola Clara si ritaglia degli spazi per chiaccherare con altre donne, con Naomi, perennemente in lizza per diventare la casalinga perfetta, con Joyce, separata, che cresce le figlie a pane fatto in casa, con Tasmin, che, nonostante la sua bellezza, non riesce a trovare qualcuno con cui fare un figlio. E deve trovare il tempo per occuparsi della sua famiglia, ovviamente complicata, costituita da una madre, un padre, due ex patrigni, tre ex fratelli.

Cosa succede a una madre divorziata entrata dalla parte sbagliata nei trentacinque? Una donna che sa di non poter avere piu "tutto", ma che ne vorrebbe avere almeno una parte? Stella non e alla ricerca del Principe azzurro. È separata ormai da un anno, e convinta di aver fatto la scelta giusta, non si sente particolarmente infelice, ma si rende conto che deve trovare dei nuovi equilibri. E allora: cosa si fa quando ci si separa? Come bisogna vestirsi quando si e invitati a cena da un'amica che deve presumibilmente riempire un buco all'ultimo momento? Bisogna apparire come una donna ormai matura, che non vuole piu niente dalla vita o, al contrario, come una mangiatrice di uomini?

En la línea de Bridget Jones, esta divertida y amena novela narra la ajetreada existencia de Clara Hunt, de 33 años y de clase media, cuya vida gira en torno a un atractivo marido, dos hijos encantadores, una casa bonita, una familia excentrica y divertida y un trabajo de periodista freenlance sobre temas femeninos. Todo va viento en popa, hasta que deja de irlo. ¿Por que?, es la pregunta implicita en esta historia. O sea , ¿por que las cosas que marchan bien un buen dia se atascan y todo se precipita al caos?.

Does secretly fantasizing about buying slut shoes and see-through tops make you a Bad Mother? What about wearing pyjama bottoms on the School Run? Clara Hutt (known to herself as Jabba The), has put her foxy single days very much behind her (rather like her cellulite), and has Got Her Man. She has a nice house, adorable children who only annoy her 90% of the time, a large, eccentric and charming family, and an attractive (but increasingly mysterious) husband. And she gets to have regular sex. Well ... she used to. Anyway, what the hell, it's only loins ... Everyone wants to be married - don't they? India Knight, Sunday Times columnist, will make you weep with laughter in this hilarious and moving novel, which proves that you can still be Married and Minxy; or possibly just that Solid Torso Action Man, MAC make-up, pumpkin ravioli and Manolo shoes do have something in common ...

Every book tells a story . . . And the 70 titles in the Pocket Penguins series are emblematic of the renowned breadth and quality that formed part of the original Penguin vision in 1935 and that continue to define our publishing today. Together, they tell one version of the unique story of Penguin Books. Penguin first published woman-about-town India Knight in 2000, introducing with My Life on a Plate a voice as fresh as a skinny latte. In On Shopping Knight celebrates the joys of retail therapy and shares with us the many and varied pleasures to be found online and on the high street, as well as her conviction that if you don't enjoy shopping, you're simply not doing it properly.

Sex. There's a lot of it about. And Stella is definitely not getting her fair share. She's got a few handicaps: she's the wrong side of thirty, she's a single mum (to the adorable Honey), and her French hot-bloodedness is liable to turn grown men pale. Mind you, the men she meets are either perma-tanned, tight-trousered smoothies with strangely white teeth or - easy, tiger - balding, poorly socialized podgers. One lot have black satin sheets; the other lot have, well, wives. What's a girl to do? Dividing her time between London's most PC playgroup (most popular children's names: Ichabod and Perdita) and lessons on the art of pulling from housemate Frank, Stella is seriously starting to wonder if she'll ever have sex again.

Some people, the author included, love shopping so much that even the weekly trawl round Waitrose is a treat. In this essential guide/memoir, India Knight dissects the singular pleasures afforded by everyone's favourite pastime: from dragging your mother around Top Shop aged 14, to feeling your entire life would somehow be perfect if only you bought that battered leather sofa. Part series of essays, part lists of essential information, you will never wonder about where to get the perfect 2-inches-off-the-waist pants again. The Shops is a book for everyone who's ever had to part with cash, which is to say, a book for everyone.