REVIEW: Sunday Age
TWO FOR THE ROAD
Amanda Hampson
Viking, $32.95 Amanda Hampson’s first novel was the bestselling The Olive Sisters. This new novel is a similar tale of feminine sea change, but a little more downmarket in its subject matter. As a traumatised teen, Cassie fled seaside Bilkara. An assault on her father brings her back from London, just as her marriage falls apart. In a rather unlikely plot twist, she takes over the family tow-truck business. It owes back taxes and has cut-throat competition and a dodgy accountant. Nonetheless, she makes it work, not least by hiring women to drive the tow-trucks. Thus a book that seems snugly to fit into the cosier end of chick-lit does contain a message of empowerment. Nearly all the women in the story improve their lives, and not necessarily with a dream man. It reads at times as slightly too easy, or slick, but the ending is quite unusual.
SUNDAY AGE
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