Ralph's Party: A Novel - Softcover

While on vacation in 1996, Lisa Jewell accepted her friend's challenge to write the beginning of the novel she had always wanted to write. She finished Ralph's Party on New Year's Eve 1997. She lives in London and is at work on her second novel, to be published by Plume in 2001.

A shameless flirt of a first novel that traces the roller-coaster lives of six people sharing the same London brownstone. Jem finds the place of her dreams literally when she peers into the basement flat where a room is being let and remembers a recurring dream shes had since her teens of a mans head viewed through a window. Smith, who owns the flat, and his best friend Ralph (a penniless artist) are renting the spare room in an attempt to break their after-work routine of TV, beer, and a joint before bed. Jem, convinced that one of the inhabitants must be Mr. Right, moves in, and the plot immediately thickens. A scant week passes before the usually sensible young woman beds Smith because he brought her favorite flowers home and helped a bit in the kitchen. The casual sex is fine with Smith; it might make Cheri (who lives above them) jealous and bring his five-year obsession with the willowy blond to fruition. But Cheri is occupied with breaking upjust for the challenge of itKarl and Siobhan, a happy couple who occupy the ground-floor space. Inextricably, though unknowingly interconnected, the six protagonists somersault through a series of misadventures. Ralph, having read Jem's diaries on the sly, is convinced hes her destiny and falls head over heels. Despite the scatterbrained plotting, the author casts a perceptive eye on the difficulty of relationships: her tone is sweet and tragic when delineating Karl and Siobhan, dreamily romantic with Ralph and Jem, and just plain neurotic with regard to the very modern Smith and Cheri. When Ralph is adamantly brushed off by Jem (Smith must be the one!), he spends the next two months painting portraits of her. For the night of his gallery opening, he invites all involved to the party, hoping hell will break loose and the righteous will have their day. Slight, yes, but enjoyable. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.