The three writers are a literary agent, a columnist and a journalist/diarist respectively!
I bought this book two years ago, on my last trip to the UK for a conference. I bought it from Meadowhall, the huge shopping mall outside Sheffield in Yorkshire.
Yorkshire is Bronte country; I lived there for three years. The landscape is truly gothic, attractive, austere and dark. There is no place in the world that could have produced Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights except Yorkshire, I think!
Dangerous Women is constructed like a dictionary, with entries arranged alphabetically. I found it a truly lovely book, with amazingly interesting stuff. The entries cover everything from "Eat your greens", to "expensive", from "politics" to "tummy tuck" and "two cures for love" (= 1. don't see him. Don't phone or write a letter. 2. The easy way: get to know him better ;-)
Most importantly, this is a woman friendly book. Some beauty and conduct guides (I know coz I collect them) are lovely, and have excellent information, but they are not too woman-friendly. Many times, they undermine female independence and well-being by subtly but surely telling women that, without a boyfriend, their lives are nothing; or that controlling their weight is everything; other such books are plainly homophobic.
Still, there are great books for women out there, and I think that Dangerous Women is one of them. It explains the difficulties of a woman's life, it does not centre everything on marriage or on the boyfriend, and recognizes that friendship among women is an excellent and essential thing.
I highly recommend this book!
Also, I wish you all a Happy New Year, with many new books, and with beauty always with you!
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