Strange Girls and Ordinary Women

Strange Girls and Ordinary Women by Morgan McCarthy

Published by Tinder Press

3rd July 2014

Paperback Edition

 

They say you know instinctively who to trust.

Alice is normal; she'd never do anything rash. But when she sees her husband one day with a younger girl, she knows at once that he's having an affair. And it must be stopped.

Vic loves her friend Michael, more than he knows. He wants happiness, and thinks he's found it with the magnetic Estella. But Vic feels sure she can't be trusted - and she needs to make Michael see that too.

They don't know Kaya; her life is tougher than they can imagine. But Kaya's a survivor, and she's determined to find a way out of her miserable world.

Three women, three lives that come crashing together in this dark, lyrical and utterly enthralling story of warped perceptions, female intuition and 'the other woman'.

 

This is Morgan McCarthy's third novel and I think, from reading this, there will be more to come.  Initially I was drawn to the cover - I love that dress, so have to say that's what initially prompted me to read this book. They say 'never judge a book by it's cover' - not in this case!

The book is about three women, Alice, Vic and Kaya, each very different, each with their own lives, each entwined in ways they cannot imagine.  Alice thinks she is a happily married woman, until she suspects her husband is having an affair.  Vic is in love with her best friend Michael, but he isn't in love with her - he loves Estella.  And Kaya, well, she's an outsider who is trying very hard to fit in.

The book is written in distinct chapters, one for each of the women, so it is only towards the end of the book that you link them all together and see how their tales weave into one.  I thought it was very well written and well-paced, and I really enjoyed it.  The women are fighters, the men are wimps, in particular Alice's husband Jasper, he isn't particularly likeable at all.  

It's not chick-lit (ghastly term) but a solid read about women, for women.  I'll be reading more of Morgan McCarthy now.

Happy Reading

 

Miss Chapter x