Product Description

What to do if Matthew, your secret lover of the past four years, finally decides to leave his wife Sophie and their two daughters and move into your flat, just when you're thinking that you might not want him anymore ...Plan A - Stop shaving your armpits. And your bikini line. Tell him you have a moustache that you wax every six weeks. Stop having sex with him. Pick holes in the way he dresses. Don't brush your teeth. Or your hair. Or pluck out the stray hag-whisker that grows out of your chin. Buy incontinence pads and leave them lying around.Plan B - Accidentally on purpose bump into his wife Sophie. Give yourself a fake name and identity. Befriend Sophie. Actually begin to really like Sophie. Snog Matthew's son (who's the same age as you by the way. You're not a paedophile). Buy a cat and give it a fake name and identity. Befriend Matthew's children. Unsuccessfully watch your whole plan go absolutely horribly wrong. "Getting Rid of Matthew" isn't as easy as it seems, but along the way Helen will forge an unlikely friendship, find real love and realize that nothing ever goes exactly to plan ...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #529 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

Review
'This witty first novel is a complete winner. It's comic, touching and the narrative races along at breakneck speed' Daily Express

The other woman attempts to make amends in this debut novel from Fallon, a U.K. television producer and partner of comedian Ricky Gervais.For four years, "nearly forty" Helen has been treading water watching those around her achieve, thrive and take risks. Helen prefers to be an observer and let things happen. Aimlessly she attaches herself to jobs and people that don't suit her in an effort to approximate a grown-up life. Helen's achievements are few: She holds a dead-end job as a personal assistant at a middling British PR firm, maintains one friendship, lives in a shabby apartment and has a very married boyfriend named Matthew. The novel centers around this illicit relationship. Matthew was Helen's boss when he seduced her. He correctly identified her vulnerability and quickly insinuated himself into the role of lover. Matthew is a cad who relishes his roles as PR chieftain, smug married father of two and seducer of younger women (it becomes clear that Helen is but one of Matthew's conquests). Nothing new up to this point, but thankfully the novel gets moving when Helen decides to dump Matthew. Here's the twist: Rather than gaining her freedom, Helen gets a hirsute roommate. When Helen gives Matthew the brush off, he falls apart and comes back groveling. It seems Matthew would rather heave over his family and start life anew with his young mistress than face life as a dumped lover stuck in suburban hell. To get rid of her new and unwelcome flatmate, Helen devises a plan to befriend his estranged wife, Sophie, and get the couple back together. While madly scheming to return Matthew to his family nest, Helen befriends Sophie and starts to take responsibility for her misdeeds. Refreshingly, this heroine doesn't waste time justifying her actions. Helen sees the error of her ways and sets about doing the right thing. Inevitably, she makes some comical missteps, but her heart remains in the right place. Fallon's debut has bright spots: The leading lady is memorable (one of the few singletons not obsessed with her baby-making status) and the dialogue pops. Pacing seems to be the main flaw, as the action sags in the middle and never regains momentum. Fallon's debut is sharp enough, but a languishing plot dulls the author's wit. (Kirkus Reviews)

The Big Issue, Jan 2007
`a punchy piece of inverted chicklit'

Eve, Jan 2007
`A fast and furious read'