Linda Kelsey’s The Twenty-Year Itch sees uptight doctor Julie facing marital meltdown when her husband suddenly announces he is taking a grown-up gap year – by himself. An entertaining and sometimes moving insight into how challenging it can be to keep a long-term relationship together.
Can love survive long-term in the twenty-first century? Julie is beginning to doubt it. When her husband of twenty years announces that he is chucking his job to embark on an adult gap year leaving his salary and Julie behind, she puts her marriage under the microscope. Turning to her friends for comfort and advice, Julie finds that their relationships are falling apart too. Surely they can't all be innocent victims? Or all bad wives? Is there no such thing as an enduring marriage? Does that twenty-year itch just have to be scratched? While this emotional maelstrom rages around her, meeting someone new is the last thing on Julie's mind. Until a chance encounter propels her onto a sexual collision course with a man who spells danger ...
'The story that unfolds reads like a beautifully written memoir ... so astutely crafted that it is painful to read. Telegraph
'THE SECRET LIVES OF SISTERS ... derives its strength from its realism ... the events and characterisations are highly plausible.' Saturday Telegraph
'A witty, involving novel' Easy Living
'Funny, perceptive - I absolutely loved it.' Penny Vincenzi
'Funny, wise and proof that the perfect heroine doesn't have to be a chardonnay-swilling thirty-something, this made me laugh and weep from start to finish. Linda Kelsey has the knack of making you care about her characters and she deals with huge issues with the lightest touch. I wish I'd written this!' Cathy Kelly
'Funny, wise, true and not just for women of fifty!' Wendy Holden
Author
About Linda Kelsey
Linda Kelsey is a former editor of Cosmopolitan and SHE, and was twice awarded Editor of the Year. She was also launch editor of Wedding Day and Executive Editor on the launch of In Style. She is now an author and freelance journalist whose work appears regularly in a variety of magazines and newspapers ranging from Good Housekeeping and Saga to the Daily Mail, the Daily Telegraph and Jewish Chronicle. She lives in London.