Handbags and Gladrags
by Maggie Alderson
Penguin $112
Emily Pointer would rather jog naked through Harvey Nichols' beauty hall than be seen with last season's handbag. Not that she has to even consider that fate - her impeccably tasteful husband always buys her the perfect handbag for her birthday. Emily has the full package. She's a fashion stylist on a London magazine, a perfect size 10. She travels the world for work and she's married to a Hugh Grant lookalike with a fine line in low-fat brunch dishes. So, why does she risk it all for random nights of wild sex with a struggling Australian photographer? Set in a glossy world the author knows well and peopled with a mixture of the fashion famous and the fictional, this is a love story and a journey of self-discovery for a woman who was kidding herself that a Birkin bag was all she needed to achieve fulfilment.