Daisy Dooley Does Divorce
39-Year-Old Divorcee Re-Enters the Dating Scene in Chick Lit Novel
Princess in Love Author Anna Pasternak's London Daily Mail column on life after divorce evolves into funny chick lit, filled with hope, dreams, dates, and daschunds.
Daisy Dooley realized on her honeymoon that she had made a big mistake. She was not in love with Jamie, nor did she think he was "the one." Instead, she eyed the other happy couples, delirious with their love for each other, and felt a stab of envy.
Now 39 and divorced, she is coping with her divorcee status while living in the English countryside with her mother, a daschund breeder. She loses herself in self-help books and her girlfriends -- Jess, a commitment-phobic sexaholic who "lives like an errant teenager"; and Lucy, married with two daughters and living what looks like the perfect life, at least from the outside.
Life is Not as it Seems
But Daisy soon finds that no one's life is perfect, and that her friends have as many flaws as she does. Lucy discovers that her husband has been cheating on her. Jess seems like a party girl but deep down she finds it all less than satisfying. Even her father, with whom she has a weekly lunch date at a bad Thai restaurant, doesn't appear to be who she thought he was and ends up surprising her.
Finding Her Way through the Dating Scene
Daisy finds herself in the dating scene again, and with mixed (and often hilarious) results.
She has a brief fling with Troy, a fellow divorce with whom she shares more than just their two dates.
She also runs into Julius, her first love whom she never truly got over. She learns that Julius is about to be married to a young, thin, well bred society girl who belongs to the same social class. On a dinner date at a restaurant where "even the air smelled expensive," Julius confides that he doesn't want to marry the girl, but that he has no choice because it's what's expected of him and that the timing for Daisy just isn't right. After a few dates, he tells her the inevitable -- that he's saying goodbye to her, but that someday they will be together again.
A Happy Ending?
Daisy struggles through more dates, including a tryst with her boss and friend Max, but finds solace in the self help books that populate the section of his bookstore that she manages. With them, she comes to terms with her newly single life, and even finds her own happy ending.
About the Author
Anna Pasternak is great niece of Boris Pasternak, author of Dr. Zhivago. Author of the New York Times bestseller Princess in Love, a work of nonfiction about Princess Diana that sold over half a million copies worldwide, she lives near London.
Daisy Dooley Does Divorce
New York, Hachette, October 22, 2007
