Author: Kathleen Tessaro Harper, £6.99
THE FLIRT is an enjoyable, if not inspirational, read. Kathleen Tessaro focuses on the many different aspects of love, and the difficulties involved in any relationship, from fresh romances to marriage. The novel follows three different characters as they find themselves inexplicitly drawn together in various ways.
Handsome, upper class Hughie Venables-Smythe finds himself a new job, as one of a number of selected handsome, young, sophisticated men who must flirt with the girlfriends, wives or lovers of men who would pay them for their services. The crucial idea is that the attention would boost the women’s egos but then the guilt they feel as a result would cause them to stay faithful to their men. As a hopeless romantic, Hughie is unable to stick to the number one rule of the job – not to have a girlfriend - having fallen hard for the cold, unattainable Leticia Vane, who runs an upmarket lingerie shop.
Leticia however, will never allow herself to fall in love and spurns any relationship that is not purely based upon lust and sex. In the midst of the entwined lives of Leticia and Hughie is the beautiful, middle-aged Olivia Bourgalt. Married to a multi-millionaire, and completely dependent upon her husband’s approval, she is typically alone, isolated and friendless. Trapped in a loveless marriage, the only thing in her life keeping her sane is the art gallery she oversees.
Written in a light, witty style, The Flirt not only looks at the fragile nature of relationships, but also opens them up in their rawest form, sparking the idea that love is something precious and raw that has no sense or rationality.
6/10
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