From the bestselling author of In Her Shoes (which was also made into a fantastic movie) comes The Next Best Thing, a new bestseller from Jennifer Weiner.
Twenty-three year old Ruth Sanders heads to the bright lights of Los Angeles with her grandmother in tow and some big dreams: she wants to be a successful television writer in Hollywood. It takes four years of enduring the eccentricities of her grandmother and putting in the hard work, but eventually her sitcom The Next Big Thing is picked up by a network.
Yet that’s when the challenges really start. Ruth starts to wonder if she can handle the pressure of running a successful television show while harbouring a secret crush on her boss, dealing with insane actors and preparing for her grandmother’s wedding. Some dreams may fall apart but it becomes clear that sometimes that’s a blessing in disguise.
Jennifer Weiner is renowned for writing women’s fiction without out being to saccharine or formulaic. Her books are rife with all the tension, uncertainty and disappointment of real life. Yet the characters are so distinct and there is such humour present that it’s easy to lose yourself in the story. The Next Best Thing is charming and Ruth is a strong and likeable heroine, an island of reason amongst a sea of total chaos. The lunacy of the actors on Ruth’s show is hilarious, as is her stubborn grandmother, but it’s also great to see the tender moments between the two women.
About the author: Jennifer Weiner is the international number one bestselling author of eight novels, including Best Friends Forever, Good in Bed, In Her Shoes, which was made into a major film starring Toni Colette and Cameron Diaz, Certain Girls and Fly Away Home.
Praise for Jennifer Weiner: “Wildly funny and surprisingly tender” Cosmopolitan
For more information on The Next Big Thing head to The Nile
