Running in Heels

"To say that Babs has been my closest friend for sixteen years is rather like saying that Einstein was good at sums. We were blood sisters from the age of eleven (before my mother prized the razor out of Babs's hand)."

But now Babs, noisy and as fun as a day at the beach, is getting married. And Natalie Miller, twenty-seven, senior press officer for the London Ballet, panics. What happens when your best friend pledges everlasting love to someone else?

It doesn't help that Nat is dating a guy named Saul Bowcock. As the confetti flutters, her good-girl veneer cracks, and she falls into an alluringly unsuitable affair that spins her crazily out of control. Nat is on the rebound and allergic to the truth—about Babs's relationship, her boyfriend's ambition, her parents' divorce, and her golden-boy brother's little Australian secret. Her mother's lasagna and her roommate Andy's fuzzy slippers are also monstrous affronts. But what Nat really needs to face is the mirror—and herself . . . .

Wickedly witty and refreshingly honest, Running in Heels is a hilarious look at the lies we tell ourselves—and the unwanted truths that only our best friends can tell us.

With the same wicked, yet honest, spirit that delighted readers in "Getting Over It", Maxted introduces Natalie, a memorable character who is in just a little over her head. When her best friend Barbara gets hitched, Natalie worries that she's losing her to the world of marital bliss; but when things spiral out of control, it takes Barbara to set her straight.

Publishers Weekly

Is using men and then complaining about how tough it is being a single woman funny? Maxted apparently thinks so, since that is the basis for the first third of her sophomore comic effort (following the well-received Getting Over It), before it veers without warning into the psychology of eating disorders and self-hatred. Natalie Miller, 20-something Londoner, is less than enthusiastic about her sensible boyfriend, Saul. To make matters worse, her best friend, Babs, is getting married, leaving Natalie feeling abandoned. So Natalie takes up with a bad boy who wants to teach her how to be bad, too. Soon, Natalie's hair begins falling out an early warning signal that she's taken her flirtation with anorexia too far and it's Babs to the rescue, functioning as both savior and voice of reason as Natalie gets her comeuppance, finally realizing that people shouldn't be judged by their bodies and that she needs to accept herself. While Maxted, former associate editor of Cosmopolitan UK, understands anorexia well, she has crafted a singularly unsympathetic heroine, one for whom taking up Pilates represents a major life-change. When self-absorbed and childish Natalie complains to her mother that she's sick of being quiet, three-quarters of the way into this bloated whine-fest, fatigued readers will wish that not talking enough really was her problem. Never mind the breakneck pace implied by the title; this one plods along in plimsolls, far too long for a Britcom. Agent, Deborah Gelfman. (June 1) Forecast: Maxted scored big with Getting Over It, and her latest, with its sassy yellow jacket, will likely be a popular beach accessory this summer. Still, this isn't the frothy fun one might expect, and sales probably will slump when word gets out. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Anna Maxted is a freelance writer and the author of the smash international bestseller Getting Over It. She lives in London.