A Kept Woman

Louise Bagshawe

Average Rating 8/10 (1 Review)

Rich, British and beautiful, Diana Foxton is the toast of New York. The bride of a ruthless publishing mogul, she fills her days with lunches, decorating and shopping and turns 'trophy wife' into an art form. When her world is suddenly torn apart, Diana has no money, no man, and no job, and is shunned by the glittering society that once embraced her.

For the first time, Diana is alone. She takes the only work she can get, and settles, awkwardly, into her new life. But can she make it on her own? And why does her handsome new boss take so much pleasure in watching her struggle?

'Even more compulsive than Jackie Collins's latest.'

'Unputdownable Bagshawe'

Review by Chrissi (010402) Rating (8/10)

Review by Chrissi
Rating 8/10
I started out not really liking the heroine of this story, she was spoiled and strong willed, wanting to marry a man who was not really very nice because of the status that went with the marriage, and who thought that the marriage was more of a business arrangement, a tradeoff if you will. Unfortunately, that life had one huge flaw, both of the people in the marriage were not finding all that they wanted within the walls of their home and her husband went looking elsewhere to get his needs filled. So you start to have a little sympathy for Diana, especially when her friends goad her into doing completely the wrong thing. The wrong thing in the eyes of the divorce courts, that is, because from a moral point of view, she was perfectly right to get some distance from her philandering husband, and to plan to return after the emotions have calmed somewhat.

With friends like those that she has, there is really no need for enemies, and with a single friend who has her greedy little eyes fixed on Diana's husband, you would probably be well advised not to have friends at all. Diana finds herself homeless, and because of the position that she has held in society, jobless, because no one believes that she needs a job, but also because everyone likes to think how effectively she has been taken down a peg or two.

She is taken on by Michael, a man whose ideas have been ruthlessly exploited by her husband and who is very wary of her, thinking that she may be a spy investigating his new project. He has become much wiser than to let his dreams be taken from him for a second time. The two of them rub each other up in totally the wrong direction, she is a spoiled English lady, he is from the wrong side of New York, but they develop a mutual respect for their work.

It was very satisfying to see Diana's husband travelling with his entourage like lemmings towards the edge of the cliff, you know that Michael bears the grudge, and you know that he will get his own back, but you are never quite sure how or where, and the manner in which he does it is more classy, more grown up than you expected from him, which makes you like him more. Diana, too, comes through her troubles with more backbone than you expect, which in turn makes you like her more, she proves herself to have more integrity than her friends and her husband in total.

Of course Diana and Michael get it together, there would be little point in a story like this if they did not, and of course Diana regains her place in society, because is it not true that success is a very effective revenge?

For my part, although the plots of stories like this may seem very samey, I like them for that reason, you know what is coming and it does not make you tired of waiting for it, (although sometimes this is not true, and I want to shake the characters until they realise how dim they are being.) It is mostly about wanting the right people to win, and I would not read them if I thought that the wrong people would win, I am a sentimentalist at heart, after all...
Chrissi (1st April 2002)