Product Description

Just graduated from drama school, Lizzie Jordan is looking forward to a glittering career at the RSC. She's also looking forward to becoming Mrs Richard Adams (Lizzie just knows that her live-in artist boyfriend is about to propose any day now). So how come, just one month later, Lizzie finds herself sharing a cockroach-infested house in Venice Beach, working as a waitress in a notorious transvestite bar, and pretending to be the fiancee of one of the hottest directors in Hollywood; a man who just happens to be gay? Why does life never seem to work out the way Lizzie Jordan planned?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #629885 in Books
• Published on: 2001-08-16
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 470 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
In Running Away From Richard, the latest novel from Chris Manby, Lizzie Jordan has just been dumped by the love of her life. He told her he didn't want her anymore. After four years. And he couldn't even give her any explanation. Welcome to the world where the heartbroken heroine is busy transforming herself from the Lady of Shallot, "abandoned and beautifully pitiful, to Lady Macbeth, "mad, obsessed, deranged". To make matters worse, her best friend is getting married, and she's bridesmaid; as she despairingly puts it: "I felt like the last remaining human being caught at a WI meeting with the Stepford Wives". Drastic situations need drastic measures so, after spending weeks crying and moping in her parents' house, Lizzie decides to ditch the emotional recriminations and get a grip, by moving to LA to become an actress.

Manby's version of the Hollywood dream is not a fairy tale romance of stardom and sparkle, instead it's a witty, wise look at nightmare situations, and the true value of friendships--of the fine but eccentric kind. Lizzie moves into a cockroach-infested house near Venice beach with Fat Joe from Balham and gets work as a waitress in Lady Boys, a transvestite bar. Through a series of mad-cap escapades and some genuine sadness she stops being a "jellyfish with no opinion on anything that doesn't relate to her or her ex-boyfriend" to someone who is "feisty and bright and opinionated"--just like this hugely enjoyable book in fact. --Eithne Farry

Woman's Way - Dublin
'A fun romp - perfect holiday reading'

Review
'Very funny, hugely feel-good, and the perfect antidote for anyone who worries that the only career ladder they've achieved is a run in their tights' Fiona Walker on LIZZIE JORDAN

'She answers the prayers of all those suffering from post-THIS LIFE disorder' GQ

Hilarious city girl comedy with a message about facing up to who you are' Cosmopolitan on LIZZIE JORDAN

'A shagadelic giggle with a good twist in its tale' Ms London on DEEP HEAT

'With a marriage of comic invention and some clear-sighted emotional honesty, this novel can move as well as amuse' Good Book Guide on LIZZIE JORDAN.

'A fun romp - perfect holiday reading' (Woman's Way - Dublin )

Customer Reviews

Classic Chris Manby
Please make sure that you have read 'Lizzie Jordans Secret Life' before you read this book.Although not marketed as a sequel it helps if you have read the first book featuring Lizzie Jordan.
All of the characters from the first book are in this one and the two books flow nicely with each other so if you haven't read the first book you may feel as though you are missing something.

oh dear
This book was so boring. Luckily it was just a book because at times I wanted to give Lizzie Jordan a slap. I didn't really like her in Lizzie Jordan's Secret Life either but as I had this book already I felt that I should read it before I threw it out. A lot of the characters didn't really follow on from the first book very well. I mean did Richard change that much, she didn't even really like him the first book then in this book she spent the whole second book mooning over him. What really annoys me about Lizzie Jordan is that she is always the victim except for the final two pages of summary in both novels when she gets of her backside. Also the books are far to predictable, you can see what is coming a mile off but Lizzie is sooo slow at picking it up. Not at all enjoyable! (Except for Fat Joe that is - why wasn't the book about him, now that would have been a good read!)

Funny and moving
Not the kind of book I usually pick up (honest!) but I'm glad I did. A fun, easy read that had me laughing out loud in public places. And it was a very nice change to read a 'chick-lit' novel that wasn't obviously just an extended extract from the author's diary.

I thought that the descriptions of Los Angeles were excellent. Manby didn't just give us the cliched view of the city but described an underbelly to the place that you don't often hear about. Full marks for that.

I also very much liked the way that you really don't know who the heroine is going to end up with until the very last page. And, no, I'm not going to tell you now...