Only for women

The subtitle of Love Lessons From A to Z could be somewhat misleading, too, since there are, at most, only three bedroom scenes and one of those doesn’t end as one expects them to these days.

The Alphabet Weekends of the title follows the love affair between Natalie and her best friend, Tom, from A to Z, beginning with a heartbroken Natalie who had just split up with long-time boyfriend Simon - a smooth talking selfish heel if ever there was one. Tom and Natalie have been friends since kindergarten.

Tom suggests a plan to prove to Natalie that he’s the man for her, that they’ll spend 26 weekends together, taking turns to decide what they’ll do as they work their way through the 26 days of the alphabet.

Tom chooses first and, to her horror, Natalie discovers that A stands for Abseiling down a terrifyingly tall viaduct. The next weekend Natalie decides, to Tom’s horror that they’ll go to the ballet.

It sounds trivial but woven in with this romantic comedy are the lives of their parents, their brothers, sisters and in-laws. Of Natalie’s two sisters, one leads the jet set life in London, the other is happily married with three children; their mother, Anna, is not herself, she had a cancer scare and can’t settle down to life.

Their father Nicholas suffers a stroke. Tom’s brother Patrick loses his job and is depressed, his wife Lucy decides to have an affair and is ...

But I won’t spoil the book by telling any more of the story, suffice it to say there is humour, pathos and some sharp observations of human failings in this well-written book. Elizabeth Noble’s characters aren’t cardboard cutouts.

They are real people, with real people’s fears and doubts and hopes — even if they do seem to have more money than most.

You’ll find this unashamedly (but very good) women’s book at Nigel Khan, Bookseller, Price Plaza, Ellerslie Plaza, Gulf City and The Falls, Westmall.