ON TOP OF EVERYTHING

Sarah-Kate Lynch - Black Swan - NZ$29.99

Sarah-Kate Lynch's sixth novel was launched yesterday, Sunday, in Herne Bay, Auckland at a church hall and the centrepiece was a spread of hundreds of cup cakes similar to that featured on the cover, along with the most divine cucumber sanwiches, all relevant to the story.....accompanied by pink bubbles.

Pic at right shows the author with The Bookman and one of the many tables of food.

Doing the honours for Random House was longtime senior fiction editor Harriet Allen, (pictured left with the author) who got proceedings off to an appropriately light start with the following remarks:

You know you’ve read a good book when it has infiltrated your day-to-day living and indeed your thinking. The other week, no sooner had I picked up my sick daughter from school and dropped her off at home, than the phone rang asking me to collect my sick son. As I put them both to bed, buckets by their sides, I was having a conversation in my head with Florence, the main character in Sarah-Kate’s latest novel. Florence believed that bad things happened in threes, so I was telling her what a lot of nonsense that was, I was for too busy to succumb to this bug, there was not going to be a number three. When I came downstairs, however, there was cat vomit on the kitchen floor. And because of Florence, I actually cleaned it up with a smile on my face, having become an instant convert to the theory of bad things happening in threes.

That’s the power of literature – makes you smile even when cleaning up cat vomit. But of course you’d expect me to say ON TOP OF EVERYTHING is a good book, so I’ll read you just two of the many positive comments we’ve received from booksellers who have had a sneak preview. One down in Oamaru wrote: ‘What an awesome book. Made me laugh, made me cry, very hard to put down. Sarah-Kate has a way with words and kept me on the edge of my seat wondering what would come next.’

Another bookseller in Ashburton wrote: ‘As a first-time reader of Sarah-Kate Lynch I would have to say that I loved it. ON TOP OF EVERYTHING was a wonderfully good-hearted read, which had me laughing and crying in all the right parts. I thought it was wonderful.’

So, I urge you to let this book into your everyday life, too – buy it for yourself as well as all your friends and family for Christmas.

And judging by the line of people buying the book later it seems many paid heed to Harriet's urging.

Pic left shows left to right The Bookman with untiring Random House publicist Jennifer Balle, and Random House publisher Nicola Legat who is enjoying a golden year with her publishing.