Sex and the City girls Anna and Natasha are looking for fun, love and money. But they’re stuck with the dregs of Bradford manhood…
Anna and Natasha are two old friends who share a grotty flat in Bradford. By day they work side by side in a shoe shop, and on Saturday nights they frequent the dodgy local nightclub, The Apollo. There, they’re becoming increasingly fed up with the calibre of men they meet – stupid, offensive, boring or all of the above. The friends visit the upmarket club, Bartok’s, where Anna meets Richard and Natasha, Geoffrey. Everything seems perfect but the course of true love does not run smooth: Richard is married, and Geoffrey is living a lie… This is a witty, compelling and eye-opening expose of the single life, friendship, and the realities of trying to get romantic relationships to work.
‘Craig’s descriptions always make you feel part of the action, but he never lets this detract from the wonderfully sympathetic character development of Anna and Natasha, or the bittersweet story he is telling…This is a superbly crafted second novel which wrings every last drop of blood and tears from the emotional splendour of the grimy Northern night. At times the writing has the razor-edged truth of a John Lennon song.’ Daily Express
‘Craig’s second novel explores female relationships and how far they’ll stretch when other factors such as men are thrown into the equation. But he’s clever to address other relationships too, including warring parents, unhappy siblings and a nightmare boss. This is a story with real-life dilemmas and plausible solutions, certain to pull in intelligent readers interested in the psychological and sociological aspects of relationships.’ Time Out
‘Craig’s treatment of the girls is warm-hearted, fond, and full of foible-driven laughs, but it’s the men’s web of subterfuge which provokes the real side-clutching.’ i-D
‘Bradford postman-turned novelist Robert Craig’s second book takes the standard chick-lit storyline into murky waters, and emerges with a sort of Liver Birds for the new millennium. A tale of misplaced optimism, female friendship and sparky good humour against all the odds.’ Big Issue
‘The style of the book allows the reader to connect with the two main characters and identify with he more trying parts of this lives…an enjoyable book.’ Morning Star
‘Craig is a very funny, imaginative writer who seems to know how women think.’ Glasgow Evening Times
‘This is one of the most perceptive and descriptive commentaries on friendship between women I’ve read in contemporary fiction – all the more amazing and indicative of sheer talent as it was written by a bloke… This could be the story of a million females, across any of a hundred cities in working class Britain today. But that’s the beauty of this novel – it’s a very ordinary story told in a very special way.’ Daily Record
Sales
- Weidenfeld & Nicolson UK
- Bastei Luebbe Germany
- Red Fish Russia
Material: finished copies (309 pp)