To Love, Honour and Betray, by Kathy Lette

Do you know what an “airline blonde” is? Blonde hair, black box. Yes, I know that’s terrible. But Kathy Lette’s To love, Honour and Betray (till Divorce us do part) is full of hair-raisingly, toe-curlingly funny, rude and crude comments like that. She says;

“All I do in my books is write down the way women talk when there are no men around.”

It is story of how Lucy gets her mojo back after her husband dumps her. Lucy is not brave, staunch or stoic. She is the “Bridget Jones” of a small Australian coastal town – she drinks, whines, goes into denial and makes a thorough ass of herself. She is so pathetic she made me feel like Superwoman! Apart from laughing my head off, I also learned a lot about Australians (for instance why Australian men tuck their “cossies” [swimming costumes] up into their bottom cheeks) and surf lifesaving. Oh, don’t ask. Just go read it.

This type of novel is Lette’s forte. You only have to look at the titles to know what they are about: Puberty Blues,  Girls’ Night Out, Nip ’n’ Tuck, Dead Sexy,  How to Kill Your Husband (and Other Handy Household Hints), Love is Blind, etc., and the handy Men: A User’s Guide (2010).