Next New Zealand – September 2019

Prev iews

BY MEGAN MCCHESNEY

Fa k e

Stephanie Wood

Vintage,$40

Read of  e m 

HOT OFF THE PRESS

You’ll Never See Me Again

Lesley Pearse

Michael Joseph, $38.80

Living a life of misery in Devon after the Great War, Betty Wellows

takes advantage of a devastating storm to stage her disappearance.

So while everyone in her  shing village thinks she’s met a cruel fate,

she’s in Bristol making a new life for herself. Now called Mabel

Brook, she encounters a psychic who receives messages from the

dead... and then the action really begins! A good, old-fashioned

and fabulously constructed pot-boiler.

Love, Unscripted

Owen Nicholls

Headline Review, $35

Every now and then a romantic comedy comes along that kicks its

competition off the perch. Love, Unscripted is one. Author Owen

Nicholls cleverly weaves pop-culture references galore into this

novel about a young  lm projectionist struggling to understand

the difference between love on the silver screen and love in real

life. Witty and wise with a hero who’s as  awed as he is lovable.

Humans are hard-wired for love and

journalist Stephanie Wood is most

de nitely human. So in 2014, when a

tall stranger with twinkling green

eyes contacted her after  nding her

dormant pro le on a dating website,

she thought, ‘What the hell.’

It certainly wasn’t love at  rst

sight: during their  rst couple of

meetings, she sensed there was something

slightly off about this “daggy” bloke called

Joe – an af uent farmer and former

architect who worked on the land but also

had a harbourside home in Sydney, two

kids, an ex-wife and a fabulous boat.

She brushed the doubts away, telling

herself she was being too picky. They

kissed after their fourth date, went on

weekends away and started talking

about a future together. “Commitment,”

declared Joe, “is a word on my mind.”

Stephanie had fallen head over heels in

love but “anxiety’s skin-tingle and

stomach-churn” took up residence in her

body when Joe began a series of

cancellations and no-shows. Despite her

“instincts howling” that something was

awry, she stuck with him as he explained

he couldn’t make a date because of a

business deal going “tits up” or his dog

getting a snake bite or his former wife

unexpectedly dumping the kids on him.

When she  nally dumped him after he

stood her up at the airport on the way to a

wedding, Stephanie began a long, painful

investigation into who Joe really was.

In Fake, Stephanie recounts her story

and talks to experts about the psychology

of romantic love. She also interviews a

range of other duped women – some of

whom also had dealings with Joe – to

shine a light on just how damaging

relationships can be in a world of liars,

fantasistsandphonies.

‘It is discouraging how many people

are shocked by honesty and

how few by deceit’

• Noël Coward

152 NEXT / SEPTEMBER 2019

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