Delphinium Blues - Softcover

Davies, Nicola

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0340718013 ISBN 13: 9780340718018

Publisher: Hodder Paperbacks, 1999

'Of course I knew Martin was shagging someone the moment I found the Queen's Greatest Hits cassette in his car among the usual ones by Howling Dog Shannon and Stinkin' Feet Brown.'

Jess has just found out that the marriage made in heaven was knocked up from spare parts in the back room of Hell. Her first reaction is to smash plates, drink the entire contents of Martin's precious wine cellar and spend days face down on the kitchen floor. But life must go on. Starting by painting her bedroom orange and buying a pair of purple stilettos, Jess knocks the cake crumbs off her c.v. and abandons her idealised version of marriage and motherhood.

Review:

Delphinium Blues is a Bridget-Jones-all-grown-up-and-on-the-edge kind of novel, seething with all the insecurities and vacillations that one would expect from the story of a woman whose husband has dumped her for a leggy 29 year-old, leaving her with a house full of pets, kids and bills to contend with.

Very middle-class, very Middle England, but less aga-saga than docu-soap, Stevie Morgan takes the bull by the proverbial horns and treats us all to a no-holds-barred perspective of Jess, a middle-aged woman (40? Middle-aged?) on the threshold of potentially great things, but having to wade through a huge pile of pooh before she can even think of the future.

An ode to the power of friendship, the power of forgiveness and ultimately the power of a woman in purple stilettos, Delphinium Blues is an easy to read, cheer-along novel about survival, and anyone--middle-aged or otherwise--who has ever suffered at the hands of a man on an ego trip will weep, wail and yippee along with Jess as she gets to grips with it all.

Read it and weep. And keep a sharp eye open for 29 year-olds with long legs. --Susan Harrison

Review:

'Lots of earthy humour combined with moments of pathos in this lively debut novel' Publishing News

Comic ... breathes with a chatty intimacy (The Independent)

'Sex Scene of the Month ... features Jess in Stevie Morgan's Delphinium Blues' SHE magazine (Feb 99)

Fresh and enticing (Sarah Broadhurst, The Bookseller)

Lively debut novel (Publishing News)

'a wonderfully observed and witty comedy of modern manners' East Anglian Daily Times, Ipswich

Stevie Morgan will definitely do for divorcees what Bridget Jones has done for singles (Home & Life)

A blackly humorous, honest and well-written account of a break-up. (Evening Herard, Ireland)

Funny, truthful divorcee's tale of despair and a new start. The best of the post-Bridget Jones genre. (Nicolette Jones - The Express)

• Publisher: Hodder Paperbacks
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0340718013
• ISBN 13: 9780340718018
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320