The Good Life

Bad-boy novelist Jay McInerney has been chronicling the seedy underbelly of glamorous New York since the 1980s, when he crashed onto the literary scene with Bright Lights, Big City (and did a lot of coke with Bret Easton Ellis and Candace Bushnell, who appears as a minor character here). These days, he's older and wiser, and so are his characters - but not much. Luke is a Wall Street banker taking time off to find himself - and discovering that his stunning celebrity wife and precocious 13-year-old daughter have been spiralling out of control while he's been at the office. (His wife is sleeping with a famous - married - mogul; his daughter is 13 going on 30). In another skyscraper, Corrinne loves being a stay-at-home mother, but her life as one half of a 'perfect' couple is growing staid, especially when it becomes clear just how flawed the relationship really is. When September 11 strikes, Luke and Corinne are drawn together at the site and find themselves in their own world, apart from their tumultuous family lives. This starts as glitzy satirical fun, but finds its more serious heart as the story progresses. Luke's developing relationship with his daughter and reconnection with his roots (and ordinary Southern family) are especially well-drawn. Recommended beach reading.

Jo Case is from Readings Carlton