The Seven Year Itch

by Kate Morris

Meet Ellie. She's been married to Jack for seven years, has two occasionally-adorable-but-mostly-demanding children and is about to open a cafe with her friend, Tilda. But Jack is a soap actor whose long-running character has been killed off, leaving him hanging around the house and getting under the feet of Petra, an au pair too glamorous for her own good - even if she is a dab hand with glitter and glue. Meanwhile Ellie's excitement about the cafe is making her marriage seem dreary in comparison and when the gorgeous Mark moves in next door (with a wife in tow, admittedly) she asks herself when she and Jack went past their sell-by-date. How can she put the sizzle back into her love life without breaking the rules? And is there really something better out there - or is she just scratching a classic seven year itch?

• ISBN10: 0141034033
• ISBN13: 9780141034034
• Publish Date: 7 May 2009
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 7 January 2011
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Penguin Books Ltd
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 384
• Language: English

Reviews

[Leah]

Having never heard of Kate Morris, I got the chance to review her latest novel, The Seven Year Itch. I actually thought this was her debut novel until I read on the author biography at the beginning of the novel that it’s her second novel. Her first – according to Amazon – was Single Girl’s Diary and released 12 years ago so quite a space between the books.

The Seven Year Itch is told in first-person and our narrator is Ellie. She’s been married to Jack for seven years and they have 2 children – Jed and Maud – and an au pair, Petra. Along with Tilda they make up the main characters of The Seven Year Itch. Oh and not forgetting new neighbour Mark…

Ellie came across quite irritating and it didn’t really seem as if her marriage was in that much trouble. We all hear men are useless at listening and useless at thinking about anyone other than themselves so her contemplating an affair when her husband hasn’t done anything came across incredibly selfish.

Jack, as I said, may not have listened to Ellie and cared a tad too much about himself – he is an actor after all! – but is that REALLY grounds for debating having an affair? No, I didn’t think so. I suppose that was the problem with the novel for me: Jack wasn’t a philanderer it just seemed that their marriage was going through a difficult patch and Ellie contemplated jumping ship.

I hated how willing Ellie seemed to be able to lie to the people closest to her and do what she did to them. That, for me, made her unlikeable.

I enjoyed Petra and Tilda’s characters, they kept the story moving along nicely. I also found Mark quite irritating – he seemed far too charming and smarmy. I mean both Ellie and Mark were married yet they acted like single people. All of it between them seemed reckless.

I don’t want to give the plot away – yet the title The Seven Year Itch and the tag line “To have and told hold ’til lust do you part” seems to give it away anyway! So obviously it’s the story that should reel you in rather than what actually happens.

It’s the twist at the end that saved the book for me. If I mention anything about it, I’ll give it away but believe me I’ve never been happier. I also quite enjoyed the cafe part of the novel, it helped balance what I didn’t like about the novel.

Overall it was quite an absoring read – I mean a book that starts: “It was early Friday morning when I murdered my husband” is bound to get you reading and I admit it hooked me in. However it just couldn’t keep me and Ellie being unlikeable didn’t really help me.

I admit it would be good to read a seven year itch-type novel that does NOT have cheating as its main focus. It would have made a much better book – and I would have enjoyed it more – if the vows in a marriage actually meant something for a while.

Rating: 2/5

I’d like to thank PENGUIN for sending me a copy to revie