Product Description

When Kit and Adam separated after almost fifteen years of marriage, Kit felt like she had lost her lover, her best friend and her identity all in one fell swoop. But now, a year on from the divorce, Kit has found herself again and she loves her life in the idyllic Connecticut town of Highfield. She has the perfect job – working for Robert McClore, the famous novelist – two wonderful children, a good relationship with her ex-husband and time to enjoy yoga with her friends. Then Tracy, Kit’s yoga instructor and close friend, introduces her to Steve – attentive, charming, the perfect gentleman – and, for the first time in years, Kit thinks she may have found the right one. But is Steve really as perfect as he seems? And why does it bother Kit when Tracy starts dating Kit’s reclusive boss, Robert? What no one knows is that Tracy is hiding a secret – one that threatens to ruin her new-found happiness with Robert and her friendship with Kit. And now Tracy must decide whether to keep her past hidden from them both for ever or whether she should reveal the truth before it’s too late… Sparkling, poignant and wise, Girl Friday is a captivating tale of friendship, family and marriage as both Kit and Tracy discover that sometimes the people you thought you had lost make their way back into your life again… N.B. Girl Friday is called Dune Road in the US

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2508 in Books
• Published on: 2009-06-11
• Released on: 2009-06-09
• Binding: Hardcover
• 416 pages

Review
'A corker of a story, sharply and elegantly told' Heat 'Sheer, unadulterated light entertainment!sassy, warm and wise' Glamour 'Compulsively readable' The Sunday Times

About the Author
Jane Green is a former journalist who gave up her job on the Daily Express to write a real woman’s account of being single in the city. That account became Jane’s first novel, Straight Talking. A huge success, Straight Talking was followed by nine more bestselling novels: Jemima J, Mr Maybe, Bookends, Babyville, Spellbound, The Other Woman, Life Swap, Second Chance and The Beach House. Jane has four children and lives in Connecticut.

Customer Reviews

Bring Back the Jane Green of Old!!
Where has she gone? The Jane Green who had us enthralled with her earlier novels, has dissappeared. I felt a little cheated and let down after the 'Beach House', as it was weak and implausable. But I had high hopes for this one being a return to form .............. sadly now dashed. If anything, 'Girl Friday' is worset than the 'Beach House' in my opinion.

If you look back over the themes of Jane Green's novels, it seems she has drawn inspiration from the path of her life, and this has worked well for her in the past. 'Girl Friday', is set in suburban New England (like 'The Beach House') where Jane herself now lives. Other than that, I think Jane is flailing for material. 'Girl Friday' is incoherent on many levels - plot is weak and confusing, characters are shallow and unrealistic, and her style has taken a very 'Mills and Boon' turn for the worst. Quote from p.186/7 - "Robert closes his eyes, every nerve on fire. He has forgotten it could be like this,and he picks her up,and carries her to the sofa, all thoughts forgotten, aware of nothing other than the woman in his arms." Hmmmn. I smell cheese.

I was confused by this book - and the blurb was misleading. Was this a book about observing Suburban American life? (A Desperate Houswives Lite)! Or was this a social commentary about the credit crunch and the fall of corporate America? Or was this an insight into the life of a divorced woman (as the blurb had me innitially believe)? Or was this a dark look into the secrets of families and relationships? For me - none of these things sadly. It could have been any of them, handled well and developed properly. Instead, its a nothing book. Just a mish mash of ideas and themes, none of which were explored or explained very well at all.

I fear Jane Greene has lost her way and is either under pressure from her publisher to churn out a book each year in time for the summer market, or worse still, has sold out and is now being ghost written. Either way, I hope that the Jane Green of old finds her way back to us next year.

Disappointing
Didn't really enjoy this book - and I am a big fan of Jane Green, ever since Straight Talking came out in 1997. Her strength lies in her strong, believable characters and honest to the point of painful dialogue. However in this, and her last novel The Beach House, she reverts to silly and implausible plot twists to spice up the story - ultimately we end up with a slightly flimsy tale with revelations every twenty pages that simply aren't supported by enough back story for the reader to care sufficiently.

I felt Annabel, the long lost sister, was treated unfairly by the author, whilst other undeserving characters like Adam got a happy ending. A lot of the twists in the plot felt added in at the last minute and at times you felt the author was making it up as she went along. Jane Green needs to go back to what she is great at - character and relationship driven stories - instead of second rate chick lit like this.

The whole thing just felt rushed and as if hadn't been thought out properly. I'd like to see her change the setting of her next book, too - they're all beginning to feel a little samey.

Shes lost her knack!
Jane Green has been writing since 1997 when she released her first book which was 'Straight Talking'. She has since followed that up with the following books:-

Jemima J - 1998
Mr Maybe - 1999
Bookends - 2000
Babyville - 2001
Spellbound - 2003
The Other Woman - 2004
Life Swap - 2005
Second Chance - 2007
Beach House - 2008

This current book Girl Friday was published in 2009.

This book introduces us to Kit and her children Tory and Buckley living on their own after Kits divorce from her husband of 15 years Adam. Although divorced they still get on well and Kits life is full with her surrogate mother Edie, her friends Tracy and Charlie and her job as an assistant to the famous author Robert McClore. Kits life is going well until her long lost sister turns up as well as a new man in her life. Her life soon starts to unravel when she realises that the people in her life are holding dark secrets that start to come to light as the book goes on.

I want to talk briefly about her books in general. I have been reading Jane Green since I picked up a book of hers in a charity shop. Since then I have subsequently reading through her books in sequence. However when I hit Babyville (great read), everything after that seemed to just not hit the mark! Jane Green seems to have completely lost her knack with this book. The story was easy to read, however extremely predictable and to be honest towards the end a little rushed. It feels like she didn't really complete the story and there are no real gritty characters to attach yourself to. The story seems to ramble along with no real substance to it. I almost struggled to review this because the story really didn't have too much impact on me and certainly didn't leave a lasting impression on me. Felt very disappointed after reading this as I have enjoyed some of her earlier books and I am now not so sure that I will rush to pick up another Jane Green!