Glamour: A Novel

by: Louise Bagshawe

Published by: PLUME/Penguin

Reviewed by Knevits Stephens

Three girls Jane, Sally and Helen all meet at a girls’ school. They become the best of friends and the three of them promise to stick together always. All three have different backgrounds and circumstances for being at the school.

Things start to unravel for the girls. Helen is taken out of school and wisped away to an arranged marriage. Sally and Helen come into financial situations that they have no control over, so they too must leave school.

Helen who is now married helps her husband with the family business all the while still looking for her two friends whom she has lost touch with.

Sally, who was always a beauty, finds a way to support her and her mother by starting her own business making clothes and jewelry.

Jane decides to be emancipated and stand on her own two feet. She gets a job and when she works her way up to the top–and its still not good enough for her–she goes in search of her friends.

After the three girls get back into contact with one another, they all decide to use their skills and business know-how to start a store. They call the company Glamour, and it’s made up of a chain of department stores. Soon all three girls are in the spotlight and have tons of money. They have the best of everything–big houses, nice cars, the best clothes, and their names are known all over.

When the girls get into a feud, their company is on the verge of collapse. Can the girls get their acts together to save what they worked so hard for?

I really felt each character’s emotions while reading the book. I liked the twists and turns thrown in, as some were unexpected. I praise the way the girls knew what they wanted and just went out and accomplished it. I liked that the romance was kept to a minimal and to the point.

The author Louise Bagshawe also wrote the book Sparkles.

Armchair Interviews says: A wonderful story of friendship.

Author’s Web site: http://www.LouiseBagshaweBooks.com