‘It’s time to stop waiting for prince charming and rescue yourself’
The Cinderella Reflex is the debut novel from Irish writer and journalist Joan Brady. Published by Poolbeg Press on 21st January 2017, I was only too delighted to receive a copy for review.
The Cinderella Reflex is a story with the feelgood factor. It’s about finding out who you are and that you ARE good enough…
Please read on for my full thoughts…
Book Blurb:
No matter how strong and independent Tess Morgan appeared on the outside, she was always let down by her inner five-year-old – who persistently believed that one day her Prince would come.
Real life is tough. For Tess, her job with struggling local radio station Atlantic 1FM is very tough. Between dealing with the demands of her megalomaniac presenter Ollie Andrews, her neurotic boss Helene Harper and the crazy workload associated with her role as producer on the This Morning programme, sometimes she just wants someone who will make all the problems go away.
Helene, meanwhile, is having difficulties of her own. Coming up to her fortieth milestone birthday, her career has taken a wrong turning down an unpleasant cul-de-sac and she’s becoming impatient for the day when her married lover will make an honest woman of her.
Things go from bad to worse when Atlantic 1FM is suddenly bought over by mogul Jack McCabe, who immediately launches a competition for a new star at the station. Soon nerves are frayed and friendships strained as everyone battles to keep their jobs.
Tess gets back in touch with the ex she still thinks of as The One Who Got Away. Helene tries to pull strings with her influential lover.
But what will it take for both women to stop playing Cinderella and find a way to launch their own rescue?
Tess Morgan is a strong independent woman. She has qualified with a journalism degree and traveled the world looking for adventure. Suddenly she discovers that all her friends are married or in stable relationships, except for Tess. In a move to establish a little security in her life, Tess moves back home to Ireland. Aware that she has let her career slip, she takes a job in a local radio station in Killty, a town outside Dublin. Tess struggles with her role as producer on a morning show. The temperament of her colleagues makes her working day very difficult and not a day goes by that Tess doesn’t wish for better, to be swept away from all the troubles of’ Real life’
Her boss, Helene, is a woman with problems of her own. She is approaching a time in her life where she feels she needs to make a stand and straighten out a few areas that she is just not happy with. Helene is a very confused character. While she strives for success and has always seen herself as a high-achiever, she still finds herself heavily reliant on a man. This over-dependence is a weakness that Helene finds hard to control.
Helene and Tess, two very different women, but both looking for love to rescue them from the humdrum of life.
A shake up in the radio station is the catalyst that both Tess and Helene need to reevaluate their lives.
Handsome Irish business tycoon, Jack McCabe’s interest in the radio station causes quite a stir. With his proposed purchase of the station and the search for a star, the new face of Atlantic 1FM, Tess and Helene come to realise that life can throw many obstacles in the path of success.
‘The Cinderella Complex’ is defined as ‘an unconscious desire to be taken care of by others. The complex is said to become more apparent as a person grows older.’ Ref : Wikipedia
In the 1980’s, American psychotherapist, Colette Dowling was the first to use this term in a book of the same title. Her book referred, to a woman’s need to be looked after and their constant fear of growing old alone.
Joan Brady has taken up the baton in The Cinderella Reflex in a very light hearted manner, but yet with the underlying questions still the same.
In today’s society do women still crave the company and need of a male counterpart to feel worthy of themselves?
Can a woman still be strong in business in her own right, without seeking the assistance of a man?
The Cinderella Reflex is a very relaxed read, whimsical and almost photographic in it’s descriptions of the egos of many of the personalities. The overbearing radio presenter who thinks he’s broadcasting to international airwaves. The suave boss who thinks he has his life, wife & lover all boxed off. The ex-lover who will use anyone and anything to achieve success not caring who he walks over along the way. The gentle and happy-go-lucky guy who rolls with the punches and lets nothing or no-one get to him.
The Cinderella Reflex is a delightful and enjoyable read, a book that will brighten your spirits and leave the reader feeling rather hopeful of today’s society and the strength that a woman can find in herself if she is prepared to just look a little deeper.
Purchase Link : The Cinderella Reflex
Meet The Author:
Joan Brady is a journalist and freelance writer.
She started her career as a features writer and newspaper columnist for the Irish Independent and Evening Herald.
She’s also worked as a researcher and producer with RTE radio on programmes like The Gay Byrne Show, Today with Pat Kenny, Liveline, Drivetime and The Late Debate.
In between, she’s found employment as a waitress, a secretary, an agony aunt and a bartender.
The Cinderella Reflex is her first novel.
Joan lives in Portmarnock, Dublin
Love the sound of this! I think it’s an issue many of us struggle with – particularly as we’re a kind of gap generation who were raised in a post feminist world, but were often exposed to more dated ideas about being swept off your feet than I think young girls are today. I wonder if it will be different for them?!
I truly hope so Claire. Thanks for reading and for the comment. Very much appreciated. x