Product Description

Utopia Holmes has escaped to New York. Abandoning London's dirty grey skies and the grief of her mother's death, she's come in search of clues to the past - and adventure.
The city offers her everything she dreamed of and more. It's a midsummer madness of people and places, heat and noise. She throws herself into an affair with a downtown artist who makes sculpture from scrap. His party trick is to teach Utopia how to get high. What she really wants, though, is a job on one of New York's glossy magazines, where girls with matching faces do therapy at lunch and define the word perfection. It's a tough act to get in on. And is it the solution? The Big Apple holds as many questions as answers and Utopia's roller-coaster ride manages to take her to places never imagined. It's a once-in-a-lifetime journey.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2795408 in Books
• Published on: 2000-08-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Company
'Great stuff'

Vogue
'A smart and sexy New York story'

Herts and Essex Newspapers
'[A] glossy novel boasting realistic characters whose problems and worries we can all relate to'

Customer Reviews

don't waste your money
I don't usually review books that I haven't enjoyed, but I want to warn you not to waste your money on this book. It was really slow to get going and jumped about too much in the plot. It was only in the last couple of chapters that the plot seemed to follow on from one chapter to the next. No real storyline to the book and very mish mashy. Not worth a second glance.

Not my cup of tea...
Sorry, but I have to disagree with the other reviewers on this! Although an average read, sadly, it didn't make that much of an impact on me. I found the plot too simplistic with a predictable ending. Furthermore, I just couldn't engage in Utopia's character, even though the novel completely centres around her (hence the title). I didn't find myself having any sympathy for the low points in Utopia's life. In fact, I didn't really care what happened to her as I knew that luck and good fortune would land in her lap anyway, as it often did. Utopia struck me as too plain and unsure of herself to succeed the way that she did in the highly competitive field of journalism.

However, Hunt does capture the vibes of New York well, and I liked her characterisations of the pretentious, superficial and two-faced people Utopia encountered whilst working for a glossy US magazine.

Although I wouldn't particularly like to read this again, it is good enough for a holiday read that is not taxing on the brain, and which can pleasantly wash over you.

A Fine Read
This is a fine novel. What makes it interesting and keeps one reading are the "real life" interactions between the characters. Each chapter is filled with drama, laughter, pain, and eroticism mixed with a hint of mystery and suspense...just like real life.