Bordeaux Housewives

Bordeaux Housewives

by Daisy Waugh

Harper, HK$96

The cover and title tell you Bordeaux Housewives will be peopled by yummy mummies on the loose in France. That's to say the characters will be alluring in the way their counterparts in Wisteria Lane attract female fans looking for an escape - usually with the help of male satellites revolving around the desperate housewives. Not unlike the stars of the television series, Daisy Waugh's personality types are predictable. They include the long-suffering wife and her cheating husband, emotionally damaged hunk and rich bitch. Then there are Maude and Horatio Haunt, who are marginally more interesting because of their reason for moving to France: they help asylum seekers by forging documents. The pair (and their children) are 'living the dream', as a friend tells them, by doing the 'English-in-France thing', complete with a house, terrace and sunflowers. Waugh's fifth novel has the light touch that will appeal to fans of chick lit. However, those wishing themselves away from their dreary lives may do better with an actual tipple.