Australian author Lisa Heidke offers a light-hearted look at a situation familiar to many women with teen children. What Kate Did Next (Allen & Unwin, 2010) is entertaining women’s fiction that will have readers smiling as they recognise the challenges faced by any woman trying to balance the needs of a partner and growing family with her own dreams.
What Kate Did Next – Plot Summary
Approaching her 36th birthday, Kate Cavendish has realised that life hasn’t turned out quite the way she thought it would when she was 20. Her dream of being able to balance her role as perfect mother to her perfect children with a lucrative career in photography that offered her a creative outlet has remained just that, a dream.
The reality is that Kate has two children that she barely understands, a husband absorbed with his own work and a long neglected photography career. Added to this is the drama of her long-separated parents planning to remarry and a recently separated pregnant sister. Her daughter is in trouble at school and Kate is beginning to wonder where it all went wrong.
When an opportunity comes along to revive her long dormant photography career, Kate jumps at the chance, but even this doesn’t work out quite as she hoped. Can Kate balance the demands of being a wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend and still find time to fulfil her own dreams?
Chick Lit for Mothers
For those looking for the light-hearted, entertaining approach common in chick-lit novels featuring central characters that are a little older than the usual 20-something protagonists, What Kate Did Next is the perfect choice. Fitting into the increasingly popular Hen-Lit or MummyLit/MommyLit genre, this novel is fun and enjoyable, but also highlights some of the challenges and difficulties facing women trying to balance their own needs with those of their families and friends.
Kate Cavendish has a wry sense of humour and entertaining outlook on life. Her amusing observations about the highly strung creative people she works with and comments on the drama that surrounds her sister and her parents’ reunion will have readers smiling, offering a pleasant balance to the more thoughtful reflections on the challenges of raising children and maintaining a healthy marriage relationship.
As Kate deals with teenage dramas, her parents’ remarriage, her pregnant sister, workplace challenges and an increasing sense of disconnection from her husband, she experiences emotions and thoughts that confront many women trying to find some sense of personal purpose as well as time to care for those they love.
Kate’s intelligence and sense of humour shine through as readers follow her adventure (and sometimes highly amusing misadventure) to discover just what she will choose to do next in her life.
Australian Author Lisa Heidke
Raised in Queensland, Australia, Lisa Heidke now lives in Sydney with her husband and three children. With a background in publishing, Heidke is the author of two novels, What Kate Did Next and Lucy Springer Gets Even (Allen & Unwin, 2009).
Entries on Lisa Heidke’s website reflect the same sense of humour and light-hearted outlook that is present in her novels. The website includes the information about Heidke and her books as well as tips for aspiring writers.
Women’s Fiction with Humour and Heart
Kate Cavendish is an appealing protagonist in a story that is light and humour-filled with just the right balance of thoughtful reflection. What Kate Did Next will leave readers smiling as they follow Kate’s adventure and perhaps recognise themselves or their friends in the cast of soccer mums, family and office workers that make up the drama that is Kate’s everyday life.
Review Copy Details:
What Kate Did Next (ISBN: 978-1-74175-933-4, 313 pages)
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