Maria Beaumont Boeken

Stay-at-home mum Fran Clarke is approaching both her thirty-seventh birthday and crisis point. Once a brilliant voiceover artist, she now hasn't worked for years. The talent hasn't deserted her - only her self-belief. She could have it all, if she could only see it. But with her confidence shot and a husband who no longer knows how to help her, most days all she sees is the bottom of a wine glass. Fran knows she has to stop the downward spiral before she self-destructs completely. But she hits rock bottom when she realises she can't even solve the problems of her own two children. And if she thinks she's a hopeless flake, imagine what the other school-run mums think of her. Being a mum can be hysterically funny. But it can also be heartbreakingly tough. That's Motherland.

Amy holds down a pretty dull job at Working Girl, a freebie mag which sounds as though it ought be the preferred read of escorts, streetwalkers and lap dancers but is in fact full of ads that try to make toiling for some dreary accountant seem as glamorous as being PA to George Clooney. She whiles away the time by watching her sexy boss's bum- the bum that in several fantasies she has already married and had children with- But Amy's life isn't all that it seems, in fact she is keeping THE BIGGEST SECRET IN THE WORLD, EVER, a secret that will shame her to her family and friends and that she mustn't ever, ever, ever let out. In the mad, bad days following her break up with the gorgeous but despicable Jake Amy took a pseudonym and wrote a novel detailing the incredible sexploits of one Donna Sanderson, the `Indiana Jones of Shagging', a book that 'pits fresh- faced girly wit against sweaty pelvis-pounding eroticism' (Cosmopolitan), 'subverts the chick- lit genre with a coruscating shock of raw, hard sex' (Time Out), and `disgusts this reviewer to the very core of his being' (Daily Telegraph). Published with little fanfare, Rings on Her Fingers (the title makes sense when you get to Chapter 22) scarcely made a dent in the bookshops, but now the Daily Mail wants to discover who the author is of the book which is threatening to corrupt the nation's youth... Amy is in big, big trouble- her mum and dad don't even know she smokes, let alone knows enough to write a pornographic book...

Jimmy has big dreams for his daughter Charlie. Well, one big a huge wedding to a rich and handsome Greek. Actually, scrub that. Any Greek will do. Charlie would rather drown in a maggot-infested swamp, but what's new? She's never fitted in with things at home. Work, though, is a different story. Charlie's been promoted. She's now the funky studio manager at The Zone, an exclusive Total Body Emporium (that's a gym to you and me) where pop stars and plebs alike walk in to work out. Things are looking good and with the arrival of Karl, a multi-talented dancer, her love life's on the up too. However, with The Zone about to become the focus of a Channel Four reality show, the pressure is on. Charlie realises she has to raise her game, but she doesn't know the half of it. She may indeed be getting shagged senseless, but she's also about to get screwed something rotten. "MissFit" is a hilarious tale of keeping fit, fitting in, and one massively devious fit-up. Oh, and a fat Greek dad.

Mr. Right aus den ganzen Nullnummern herauszufischen ist auch eine schwere Geburt, denkt Dayna, als die Abstände zwischen den Wehen immer kürzer werden. Wie viele Nieten hat sie dabei nicht schon gezogen: Simon, der eine ungesunde Vorliebe für niedliche Plüschbären hegt und dessen Libido der eines Hasen auf Viagra ähnelt, Chris, der intelligente, sensible Lockenschopf, der eine glänzende Karriere als Rockstar vor sich hat (von wegen ),  der charmante Archie, dessen wahren Charme Dayna erst entdeckt, als es fast schon zu spät ist ... Gabriel, Daynas Blitzbekanntschaft  intensiv aber kurz ... oder Mark  nett zu Kätzchen und kleinen Kindern, fast perfekt, doch irgendwas scheint er zu verbergen. Doch in jedem Los liegt die Chance auf einen Hauptgewinn ...

Sie kam, sah und siegte: Fran hat ein einzigartiges Talent, Stimmen zu imitieren. Als Synchronsprecherin machte sie Karriere und fand die große Liebe. Jetzt imitiert sie Stimmen zur Freude ihrer beiden Kinder - nur was sie selbst bewegt, hat sie verlernt zu sagen. Und es kommt noch schlimmer: Fran entdeckt, dass ihr Gatte eine Affäre mit der Marketingleiterin von Gucci hat. Wenn sie nicht zukünftig als Desperate Housewife Karriere machen möchte, sollte sie vielleicht häufiger ihrem Mann tief in die Augen schauen als den Boden ihres Weinglases zu betrachten. Point of no return? Mitnichten. Nach ein paar Umdrehungen zu viel schafft es Fran, ihr Leben in den Griff zu kriegen und die Konkurrenz liebevoll in die Tasche zu stecken.