Book review: Why do we have to live with Men? by Bernadette Strachan

All things considered, the male of the species are generally ‘untrustworthy, feckless and flawed’ and life without them would be bliss...wouldn’t it?

If you like your reads sassy, smart and bristling with one-liners, then this wickedly funny and acerbically astute romp will reach the parts that other run-of-the-mill romances won’t.

Strachan is a wry observer of life’s big truths and little lies, and her slick cast of assorted characters lay bare all the fears and foibles of life in 21st century Britain.

Cat is 36 years old, a shoulder-padded she-wolf with a top marketing job in London and she’s having an affair with a very handsome, middle-aged but married man.

She enjoys life in the big city and shares her social life with three good friends – her Dublin-born flatmate and sometime actress Mary, modern day suffragette Germaine and her brother’s girlfriend Jozette, an American with an awesome Afro and a ‘seam of pure sweetness’.

Gang-of-four leader Germaine, posh and politically correct, ‘doesn’t need petrol station roses and a Terry’s Chocolate Orange with half the segments missing’ to bolster her self-esteem.

So when she dips into some of her inheritance and rents a large farmhouse in the Dorset countryside for six months, the girls get the chance to take part in a social experiment to prove that women have no need for men.

Just think, they can enjoy Sex in the City without being judged, arrange cushions and know they’ll stay that way, grow older without caring about under-eye bags, have cats, keep the bathroom clean...and be really nice to each other.

Of course, there’ll be other women joining them for the ‘fun,’ but they’ll all be sisters together.

However, the best-laid plans have a way of going awry and the ‘blessed peace’ of an all-female household is soon shattered by a claustrophobic school-style dormitory, a bit of subterfuge, some secret passions and a rota of endless household chores.

Rules must be obeyed at all times and there’s one that must never be broken – no men!

Can Cat and the girls stick it out?

Why do we have to live with Men? is packed with laugh-out-loud humour and the achingly familiar backchat of any group of women, but it also contains a few home truths and serious issues to temper the comedy and keep us on our toes.

Escapist romance with some down-to-earth twists...

(Sphere, paperback, £6.99)