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The Penguin Podcast: Alexandra Shulman

The Parrots

A pair of emerald green and gold parrots have been disturbing the peace of Katherine Tennison's London garden for some time when a further disruption arrives at her door, in the form of dazzlingly beautiful Italian siblings Antonella and Matteo Fullardi. 
 
Children of Katherine's old schoolfriend Ann, who married an Italian leather-goods heir, the pair are now all grown up. Very rich, and very troubled, they prove a catalyst for a whole series of events which reveal the Tennisons' quiet family life to be less perfect than it initially seems . . .

'A sparkling tale of seduction and suspense' - Tatler 
 
'Her prose buzzes with pitch-perfect modernity' Observer 
 
Outsiders see things others don't. 
 
Blessed with status, love, wealth and connections the Tennisons seemed the most enviable of families - until Antonella and Matteo Fullardi, dangerously attractive Italian siblings and offspring of an Italian fashion dynasty, enter their well-managed lives. 
 
Calligrapher Katherine, gallery owner Rick and their student son Josh discover that the Fullardis are just as unsettling and alluring as the exotic parrots that now inhabit their tranquil London garden. 
 
But this damaged pair are the catalyst that propel the Tennisons into a spiral of chaos, calling into question their place in a changing world of new money, new morality and new menace.

Shulman skewers the everyday problems of family life with a beady eye for domestic detail.

A self-assured and intense examination of a marriage under pressure.

Her prose buzzes with pitch-perfect modernity

A sparkling tale of seduction and suspense

An incisive commentary on life in the capital today . . . compelling . . .her pared-down prose has all the clean, unobtrusive elegance of an Armani jacket.

Sharply observed and surprisingly salty, this is an engrossing second novel from the editor of British Vogue.

Kept me eagerly turning the pages way past bedtime . . . would make a fine addition to your holiday reading list.

Alexandra Shulman has edited British Vogue since 1992. She is a contributor to The Times, Daily Mail, Guardian and Daily Telegraph and lives in London. The Parrots is her second novel; her first, Can We Still Be Friends, was published by Fig Tree in 2012.

Can We Still Be Friends

Summer, 1983. Best friends, Sal, Annie and Kendra are fresh-faced and fresh out of university. Three very different girls about to walk three very different but equally tangled paths . . . 
 
Sal's the aspiring journalist whose personal demons threaten to destroy everything she achieves. Annie's the domestic beauty, convinced that marriage will give her everything she wants. And Kendra, the daughter of chic, liberal parents, is searching for her an identity all of her own. 
 
As they plunge headlong into the years of pixie boots and shoulder pads, Duran Duran and Margaret Thatcher, they find that for all their plans and hopes and dreams, nothing in life is certain - and that includes friendship.

Can We Still Be Friends is the debut novel by the editor of British Vogue, Alexandra Shulman. 
 
Summer, 1983. Best friends, Sal, Annie and Kendra are fresh-faced and fresh out of university. Three very different girls about to walk three very different but equally tangled paths . . . 
 
Sal's the aspiring journalist whose personal demons threaten to destroy everything she achieves. Annie's the domestic beauty, convinced that marriage will give her everything she wants. And Kendra, the daughter of chic, liberal parents, is searching for her an identity all of her own. 
 
As they plunge headlong into the years of pixie boots and shoulder pads, Duran Duran and Margaret Thatcher, they find that for all their plans and hopes and dreams, nothing in life is certain - and that includes friendship. 
 
'Exquisite time travel . . . Every detail - from fashion, design and music to social tribes and verbal tics - is spot on' Guardian 
 
'Warm and entertaining . . . captures the excitement of being young and glamorous at a time when the sky really did seem to be the limit' The Times 
 
'Wonderfully evokes that ping-pong between trivial and tremendous so characteristic of the Eighties . . . great on atmosphere . . . An engaging debut, alive with human sympathy' Wendy Holden, Daily Mail 
 
Alexandra Shulman has edited British Vogue since 1992. She is a contributor to The Times, Daily Mail, Guardian and Daily Telegraph and lives in London. This is her first novel.

Exquisite time travel . . . Every detail - from fashion, design and music to social tribes and verbal tics - is spot on

Wonderfully evokes that ping-pong between trivial and tremendous so characteristic of the Eighties . . . great on atmosphere . . . An engaging debut, alive with human sympathy

Engrossing . . . brilliantly captures the complexities of female friendship

A poignant look at the juggling act women must maintain if they're to carve out a career, and how friendships define life's tribulations

Warm and entertaining . . . captures the excitement of being young and glamorous at a time when the sky really did seem to be the limit

'Sapphic sex, shoulder pads and Spandau Ballet . . . Too seductive a storyline to wait for the inevitable film

Shulman's well-executed debut is committed to portraying life in all its contradictory, chaotic, celebratory form. A novel both full of heart and comfortable in its own skin

An impressive debut . . . the best-quality chick-lit available and a thoroughly enjoyable summer read

A fun summer read . . . a page-turner, making me nostalgic for a time when youthful female friendships had to be worked at, face to face over a bottle of wine and some nasty pink taramasalata, rather than simply maintained with a few mouse clicks and a "share" button

An enjoyable romp back to a more flamboyant time

Shulman has a terrific eye for the small yet telling detail

Alexandra Shulman has edited British Vogue since 1992. She is a contributor to The Times, Daily Mail, Guardian and Daily Telegraph and lives in London. This is her first novel.

Alexandra Shulman

My Diary Of Vogue's 100th Year

The secret diary of Vogue Editor-in-Chief Alexandra Shulman and the real story behind the BBC ABSOLUTELY FASHION documentary. 
 
'One of the great social diaries of our time . . . should become a classic.' Sunday Times 
 
'Eye-popping, brilliantly candid' Evening Standard 
 
What a year for Vogue! Alexandra Shulman reveals the emotional and logistical minefield of producing the 100th anniversary issue (that Duchess of Cambridge cover surprise), organizing the star-studded Vogue 100 Gala, working with designers from Victoria Beckham to Karl Lagerfeld and contributors from David Bailey to Alexa Chung. All under the continual scrutiny of a television documentary crew. 
 
But narrowly-contained domestic chaos hovers - spontaneous combustion in the kitchen, a temperamental boiler and having to send bin day reminders all the way from Milan fashion week. For anyone who wants to know what the life of a fashion magazine editor is really like, or for any woman who loves her job, this is a rich, honest and sharply observed account of a year lived at the centre of British fashion and culture.

Alexandra Shulman

Inside Vogue

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