The usual suspects

The beauty of ‘chick lit’ is the discussion of sometimes quite painful, but always familiar scenarios surrounding love, life and happiness, in an open and self-deprecating way. Apparently, it doesn’t pay to take yourself too seriously when it comes to matters of the heart, and rightly so – why weep when you can have a good laugh? In The Catch, Marg Vandeleur’s first novel, the search for happiness is complicated by the plight of the woman whose sudden desire for a child is thwarted by a clutch of eggs past their prime and nary a bloke in sight. Social commentators, researchers, religious leaders and feminists have all put their oar in over the last year or so on this topic. Now it’s time for ‘chick lit’ to have its say.