To the outside observer, Clara Hutt has it all. Nice house, bright kids, interesting freelance journalism career, attractive husband, amusing friends. But viewed from the inside, Clara's life is the cause of a constant rumble of dissatisfaction. It is on this nagging feeling that being married is not quite as blissfully fulfilling as she expected that Knight bases this stylish, amusing tract; most of the time it reads like extended exercise in the all-about-me style newspaper columns that she excels at, and fortunately, the virtual non-existence of plot does not significantly mar the reader's pleasure. Knight's deliciously sharp and witty observations on life - the crucial female agonies of 'waking up fat', fretting over how to dress for a weekend in the country ('it's either scrub-faced lezzy or painted harlot in inappropriate clothes') and the thrill of being on a shopping spree in Paris, feeling 'Frencher and Frencher with my carmine mouth and empty stomach'. Knight's deceptively simple souffle-light prose style never gets enmired in mundanity or cliche and there are some entertainingly observed characters and quite touching descriptions of the deep if fleeting happiness that family life can bring. Enjoy this, her first novel, and look forward to even better things - like a grown-up plot - in her next one. (Kirkus UK)