Show 16: the popular author on chick-lit, Straight Talking and second chances...
When it comes to women’s fiction, it doesn’t get much bigger than Jane Green. She has sold over 2 million copies of her books in the UK alone, and has achieved eight top ten best-sellers.
Born in 1968 in London, she is a U.S.-based British author. She lives in Connecticut with her four children - including a set of twins - and dog. She attended university in Aberystwyth from 1987-88, although she left without completing her degree and worked as a journalist throughout her twenties. At the age of 27 she was inspired to write a book about a woman being single in the city. This paid off and she published her first book, Straight Talking three months later.
She cheerfully admits to being a disaster at University, and that Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity, was what inspired her to give up her job on the Daily Express, and write “a real woman’s account of what it was like being single in the city”. Straight Talking, her (allegedly) largely-autobiographical first novel, became a huge bestseller and together with Bridget Jones’s Diary launched the phenomenon that came to be known as ‘chick lit’.
Just after the release of Straight Talking, Jane met her American husband, and two years after that they moved across the Atlantic to Connecticut. She has 4 children –including twins, although she and her husband have now separated. Second Chance is her latest book and tells a fictional version of a very personal story. The story of a marriage that doesn’t work out and a story of finding love after divorce.
Second Chance
A group of old friends sits around a half-cleared dinner table. Now in their late thirties, most haven’t seen one another for years.
Paul, a handsome freelance journalist, is now happily married to a gorgeous fashion entrepreneur. Saffron is a struggling actress navigating a secret love affair with one of the most famous men in the world. Olivia, newly single, runs an animal shelter in London. The hostess, Holly, is married to the perfect man, has two perfect children, and lives in the perfect house…or does she?
The group has gathered to mourn the passing of their friend Tom, and as they do they discover the power of friendship, explore the politics of change, and find the true meaning of the phrase “Mid-Life Crisis.”
