Waterstones Fiction Book of the Monthfor June 2018
This is Nora Ephron's (screenwriter of When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle) roman a clef:'I always thought during the pain of the marriage that one day it would make a funny book,'she once said - and it is!
I married him against all evidence. I married him believing that marriage doesn't work,that love dies,that passion fades,and in so doing I became the kind of romantic only a cynic is truly capable of being.
Seven months into her pregnancy,Rachel discovers that her husband Mark - a man who'would be capable of having sex with a Venetian blind'- is in love with another woman. The fact that this woman has a'neck as long as an arm and a nose as long as a thumb'is no consolation.
Food sometimes is,though,since Rachel is a cookery writer,and between trying to win Mark back and wishing him dead,she offers us some of her favourite recipes.
The breakdown of the late Ephron's own marriage proved the perfect fuel for the hilarious,whip-smart revenge that is Heartburn,her only novel. Packed with snappy,hilarious,endlessly quotable one-liners - the stock-in trade of her award-winning screenplays - Heartburn is a roller coaster of love,betrayal,loss and - most satisfyingly - revenge.
'I have bought more copies of this book to give to people,in a frenzy of enthusiasm,than any other...Heartburn is the perfect,bittersweet,sobbingly funny,all-too-true confessional novel'- Nigella Lawson
Other books included in the VMC 40th anniversary series include: Frost in May by Antonia White; The Collected Stories of Grace Paley; Fire from Heaven by Mary Renault; The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter; The Weather in the Streets by Rosamond Lehmann; Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith; The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West; Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston; The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy; Memento Mori by Muriel Spark; A View of the Harbour by Elizabeth Taylor; and Faces in the Water by Janet Frame
Publisher: Little,Brown Book GroupISBN: 9780349010359Number of pages: 192Weight: 169 gDimensions: 194 x 126 x 16 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
'I am not a great reader of comic novels,but Ephron's hilarious,recipe-strewn,semi-autobiographical account of a heavily pregnant woman whose husband has left her for a woman with a'neck as long as an arm'is a treat. A perfect example of Ephron's gift for turning tragedy into comedy,Heartburn is evidence that revenge is indeed a dish best served cold.'- Paula Hawkins
'Heartburn took the most miserable personal situation and made it hysterically funny,inspiring and utterly relatable to women of all ages. I became obsessed with its author and thinly disguised heroine.'- Sali Hughes,Stylist
'I have bought more copies of this book to give to people,in a frenzy of enthusiasm,than any other...Heartburn is the perfect,bittersweet,sobbingly funny,all-too-true confessional novel. There is not a wrong word - about food,marriage,life,love,loss.'- Nigella Lawson
'(Ephron) chatters up a storm,always on the verge of wisecracking up.'- TheGuardian
'Heartburn is as hilarious as it is heartbreaking and as brittle (very) as it is steely (even more).'- India Knight
Book Club
London - ChiswickThursday 16th November 19:00
Join us for our monthly bookclub - this month,we will be discussing Nora Ephron's'Heartburn.'Seven months into her pregnancy,Rachel discovers that her husband Mark-a man who'would be capable of having sex with a Venetian blind'- is in love with another woman. The fact that this woman has a'neck as long as an arm and a nose as long as a thumb'is no consolation. Heartburn is a roller coaster of love,betrayal,loss and - most satisfyingly - revenge.A warm welcome and a glass of wine awaits you - all that we ask is that you read the book!
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