Getting Rid of Matthew - Jane Fallon

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Synopsis
Reviews
Product details
Interview

About Jane Fallon

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Getting Rid of Matthew

» Jane Fallon

Penguin
Paperback : 04 Jan 2007

£6.99

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Synopsis

What to do if Matthew, your secret lover of the past four years, finally decides to leave his wife Sophie (and their two daughters) and move into your flat, just when you’re thinking that you might not want him anymore…

PLAN A

Stop shaving your armpits. And your bikini line
Tell him you have a moustache that you wax every six weeks
Stop having sex with him
Pick holes in the way he dresses
Don’t brush your teeth. Or your hair. Or the stray hag-whisker that grows out of your chin
Buy incontinence pads and leave them lying around

PLAN B

Accidentally on purpose bump into his wife Sophie
Give yourself a fake name and identity
Befriend Sophie
Actually begin to really like Sophie
Snog Matthew’s son (who's the same age as you by the way. You’re not a paedophile)
Buy a cat and give it a fake name and identity
Befriend Matthew’s children. Unsuccessfully
Watch your whole plan go absolutely horribly wrong

Getting Rid of Matthew isn’t as easy as it seems, but along the way Helen will forge an unlikely friendship, find real love and realize that nothing ever goes exactly to plan…

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Reviews

Customer Review: 11 June 2008

Reviewer: Foxy

'This had me laughing out loud on the tube! Brilliant!! - another please Jane as quick as you can!!!'

Customer Review: 03 March 2008

Reviewer: Barbie

i just LOVE this book and cant wait for janes next book

Customer Review: 27 December 2007

Reviewer: Hayley

This is by far the best book i have ever read. I couldn't put it down. Can't wait for another book by Jane, hope there is going to be one!

Customer Review: 23 November 2007

Reviewer: Jennifer

So when's the movie coming out? Fun read, a twist on a tired subject and it reads like a movie plot unfolding, so it's hard to put down.

Customer Review: 01 November 2007

Reviewer: Ali

I totally agree with all these reviews. It took me two days to read it -I'm a teacher and I kept reading it during all my breaktimes as well as all evening. I was amazed how I felt so sorry for Matthew but, at the same time, didn't blame Helen for being so difficult with him. Does Helen get together with Leo eventually? What do other readers think?

Customer Review: 11 October 2007

Reviewer: Jules

Fantastically written, realistic and believable. The characters are fallible and flawed which just makes it more wonderful. More please!!

Customer Review: 27 September 2007

Reviewer: Tricia

Loved this book, couldnt put it down. My family were giving me odd looks when I spluttered to myself - fantastic reading.

Customer Review: 20 August 2007

Reviewer: Kerrie

WOW! What a great 1st book-well done Jane! Jane writes is such a funny, believable way. At points in the book, my heart was racing and I seriously couldn't put the book down...my heart sunk when I turned to the final page. Please say there will be a part 2 or that Jane has just finished writing her 2nd novel. A truly wonderful read - Jane is "up there" with the great 21st Century witty writers like Mike Gayle & Adele Parks!!

Customer Review: 11 August 2007

Reviewer: natasha

i couldn't stop reading it. i had to finish the book the day i started reading it. one of the most interesting books i've ever read.

Customer Review: 06 August 2007

Reviewer: Laura

Wow!This is one of the funniest books i've read. Such a good story full of fantastic twists and such good humour i was laughing out loud on numerous occassions. Great read, want a part two!!

Customer Review: 04 April 2007

Reviewer: Nickie

this was one of the funnisest books i have read in a long long tine, written in such a way you toatally believe in the characters. A bitter sweet tale of love and friendship. You are sucked in from the start and find yourself making excuses to your family to hide and try and finish a chapter.

Customer Review: 26 February 2007

Reviewer: lavern

oh my it was seeing the mistress side of things... funny whitty all the way to the end...Is there a part 2(hope s0)

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Interview

Jane Fallon, author of Getting Rid of Matthew, on writing in leaky conservatories, Eliza Bennet and Ollie the cat.

Which newspaper do you read?
I skim read the Guardian, Metro and the Telegraph every morning and then spend the rest of the day trying to do the Telegraph crossword. I can never resist reading all the tabloids online especially at the weekend. My favourite day of the month is the day Vanity Fair drops through my letterbox.

Who / what is your biggest influence?
Undoubtedly discovering Praxis by Fay Weldon when I was 16 had a major effect on how I viewed literature.

What books are you reading at the moment?
Jodi Picoult’s amazingly ambitious and thought provoking My Sister’s Keeper, The Real Oliver Twist, a biography of Robert Blincoe by John Waller and I’m rereading The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte for about the fifth time.

What books did you read as a child?
Anything I could get my hands on but if I had a choice Noel Streatfield.

Which literary character would you most like to meet?
Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice.

Where / when do you do most of your writing?
My favourite place to write is on my roof terrace but the weather dictates I spend most of my time in a leaky conservatory.

Have you ever had any other jobs apart from writing?
I was a TV Producer for about 10 years before I gave it up to write a novel but I’ve also been a room service waitress, a shop assistant, a receptionist, a chambermaid. Basically anything that involved serving or cleaning.

Who or what always puts a smile on your face?
My cat Ollie, and pretty much any other animal. Apart from spiders obviously. Only a maniac would smile when they saw a spider.

How would you like to be remembered?
I don’t understand why people get hung up on being remembered. You’re dead. Who cares?

Where’s your favourite city?
New York just beats London into second place.