Julia Gets a Life

by Lynne Barrett - Lee (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2000

  $9.40

  Forget the healing process. Never mind the search for the inner child. Julia Potter goes straight into sexual rediscovery upon hearing her husband's confession. He's been to bed with the local single mother (middle name- 'Available') and left a Post-It note by way of apology. Plus the usual, 'It's hard being a man ' But it's not a case of Mrs Unwanted Wife of Abandonedville for Julia. Her mission statement is 'Up'. Humanity, Reality, Sexuality, Career Development, Pringles - she's set to take them all in her new stride. So it's unfortunate that she seems to have turned the art of not reading other people's signals into a Turner-prize-winning installation, which includes picking a hunk whose more attuned to eco warriors than warrior princesses. Next she relaunches her photographic career and, narrowly avoiding style-police like the Feng Shui Seven, finds her own personal escape pod at last. Graduating from an in-store stint snapping the under-fives at Cardiff's Planet Kid, she's soon making a name for herself in between steamy moments on a 'Hard and Happening' tour with Kite, the latest mega band. End of marital crisis?

• Used

  Paperback
  2007

  $3.25

  When Julia's husband has an affair with local siren Rhiannon de Laney, she feels as if her world is falling apart. Once the arguments have abated, and her husband has moved out, Julia realises she's well and truly on her own, a single parent with two teenage children, a bad haircut and no idea of what to do or where to go next. Gradually, however, Julia begins to recognise the benefits of being single: it's the chance to meet new people and make new friends, change her hairstyle, throw out her old clothes, experiment with a new image, resurrect her photography career, travel the country with a boy band and, in short, rediscover herself outside the context of loyal wife and dutiful mother. She also rediscovers the joys of dating. After a few false starts, she finds herself learning more about the talents, musical and otherwise, of the lead singer of Britain's most famous band. Julia's certainly got herself a life you wonder whether it is the kind of existence she wants to live permanently, or whether her ailing marriage is worth saving. Light-hearted, humorous and at times surprising, Julia's battles with this age-old dilemma prove instantly recognisable yet highly entertaining, with a twist in the tale that may surprise or perplex.