WHEN THREE teenage girls meet in an airport in 1986 they begin to forge the path of their lives for the next 16 years. A year later, one of them gives birth and abandons the baby at Heathrow.
The characters of Chloe, Jocasta and Martha are central to this book, however, apart from the short time we spend with them in their teenage years, they never successfully endear themselves to the reader.
As we rejoin the girls in the year 2000 Chloe is a doctor, married to a one-dimensional sexist of a husband, Martha is an uptight lawyer and Jocasta is a tabloid journalist devoid of any real social conscience (surprise, surprise).
The girls haven't seen each other since their backpacking days but are thrown together after a series of events that leads to the discovery of the abandoned baby's mother.
The storyline is touching in parts, but it is predictable. This would have been forgiven had there not been so many attempts to crowbar in political agendas and had the love scenes not been so cringe-making.
Sheer Abandon by Penny Vincenzi is published in hardback by Headline priced £17.99.
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