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July 2017 Book of the Month.
Gosh, what a funny, emotional, romp of a story this is. Lucy begins her tale with the moment she gets arrested for picking up an undercover police officer while trying to find a prostitute for her 20 year old autistic son, her story puffs up hill, and races down dale from there. Kathy Lette has the ability to touch the parts of your heart you didn't even know existed, while tickling your ribs and smacking your opinions at the same time. Lucy’s son Merlin is a delight, his aching vulnerability, paired with his ability to run verbal rings round most people provoked snorts and thoughts. This is deceptively readable, I simply raced through it, however there were times when I stopped and sat in quiet contemplation. I can thoroughly recommend ‘Best Laid Plans’, with pussycat quick wit and playfulness, this is actually a roaring lion of a read. ~ Liz Robinson
If you like Kathy Lette you might also like to read books by Mavis Cheek, Christina Jones and Jane Fallon.
Reader Reviews
In addition to our Lovereading expert opinion some of our Reader Review Panel were also lucky enough to read and review this title. You can click here to read the full reviews.
- Ann Peet - 'Great fun - a compassionate and moving story full of both laugh-out-loud and dark humour - a real treat.'
- Cathy Small - 'An amusing story that will make you cringe but laugh at the same time.'
- Sue Burton - 'This was a great book with humour and also warmth... one of the funniest books I have read in a while.'
- Angie Rhodes - 'A laugh out loud book, that will have you in tears of laughter, smiling to yourself as you know in the back of your mind, you too would go to any lengths to help your children.'
- Edel Waugh - 'The book mixes real tenderness with laugh out loud, tears streaming down your face moments, making this a very enjoyable read as well as showing us what life is like for family members living with autism.'
- Bev Farningham - 'A very quick read and obviously the dialogue well thought out especially from the son as it must have taken a lot of research into autism.'
- Val Rowe - 'One for loyal Kathy Lette fans perhaps but not my cup of tea at all!'
- Emily Wright - 'This riotously funny romp of a novel is a feel good celebration of the fact that not everyone conforms to society’s stereotypes.'
- Emily Curnow - 'This is a laugh out loud roller coaster of a book.'
Synopsis
Best Laid Plans by Kathy Lette
TO DO LIST 1) Buy hummus 2) Pay Pilates teacher 3) Find prostitute for son...When it comes to sex, even the best laid plans come unstuck - in the stickiest way possible. As a crossword-addicted English teacher, Lucy never expected to be arrested for kerb-crawling. But her autistic twenty-year-old son Merlin is desperate to lose his virginity, and a prostitute seems like the only option ...only Lucy picks up an undercover policewoman instead. Let off with a suspended sentence, Lucy resigns herself to the fact that her son will never have sex, let alone find love...until the morning she miraculously discovers Merlin in bed with a girl. But is tough, tattooed Kayleigh just taking Merlin for a ride? If so, why? And what has brought Lucy's snake of an ex-husband wriggling back into their lives? As all her best laid plans for Merlin's happiness chaotically unravel, will Lucy ever be able to cut her son's psychological umbilical cord and start to live her own life? And will the funny, quirky and marvellously magical Merlin ever find real love? With plenty of comic twists and emotional turns, Kathy Lette's riotous yet heartrending novel tackles the taboo subject of sex for the 'differently abled' - and shows us that when it comes to sex, we all have special needs...
Reviews
'With her usual mixture of huge heart and humour she rips the stigma out of autism' Ruby Wax
'Deliciously rude and darkly funny, but with compassion and humanity at its heart. Read with relish.' Nicole Kidman
'Kathy Lette can turn from raunchy farce to the most tender emotion in a trice: this unputdownable book wrenches the heart and the laugh muscles with stunning panache.' Stephen Fry
'An important and poignant subject - a mother's search for the perfect girlfriend for her grown-up son with autism - that is also a hilarious and entertaining page- turner, written with Lette's inimitable irreverence, brio and wit.' Jill Dawson
'As her fans will expect and newcomers discover, this tale is perspicacious, pithy and witty. A tale of mother love which will twang your heart strings before you making you laugh out loud.' Sandi Toksvig
About the Author
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Book Info
Publication date
13th July 2017Author
Kathy LetteMore books by Kathy Lette
Author 'Like for Like'
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Author's Website
www.kathylette.com/Author's Facebook Latest
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Publisher
Bantam Press an imprint of Transworld Publishers LtdFormat
Hardback320 pages
Categories
Relationship StoriesBooks of the MonthExclusive Pre-PublicationFamily DramaIf You Like...You'll LoveLiterary FictioneBook Favourites
Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)RomanceISBN
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