The Sex Life of My Aunt

Brit writer Mavis Cheeks lends her own wry, pointed humor to a disturbing tale that's the exact opposite of my "chick lit" offerings. Here is a tale of an affair...but not, as usual, from the point of view of the husband wronging the wife, but this time from the point of view of the wife, married 30 years to a wonderful, special man, who begins an affair she cannot--and will not--end. Why is this so disturbing? With brutal honesty, our heroine, Dilys (Dilly), watches herself as she sinks deeper and deeper into an obsession with her lover, while knowing in her heart and soul that she is wronging a man who has never done a thing to deserve this wrong except to love and cherish her. And yet she cannot stop. She feels that her lover has opened her eyes to the world, to her self, to feelings she has never felt. And although she hates herself for wronging her husband, nothing can make her forsake her lover, not even the thought of destroying the lives of her family. It makes for interesting reading, that's for sure, but it's not so easy to read. Is that because women readers are conditioned to think of the female gender as always wronged? Or is it because you want to slap the main character across the face? I don't know, but this is one heck of a book...way off the beaten track and very well written.

How scary this book is - I don't mean from a spooky point of view but from a realism point of view. This book made me think about adultery, life, relationships and how frail they can be. Also makes you realise that some simple actions can turn your life upside down. A great story that will have you begging for more.

I never read anything by Mavis Cheek, but I saw this and thought, "what a cute little summer read this ought to be." This book is alot more that just a May/December romance... it's a story about a woman who is emotionally, sexually and morally conflicted, which I believe all persons can relate to at some point in their lives. It's not just about an affair, it's also about sibling rivalry that can be so cruel it can manifest itself into adulthood realtionships and decisions. Dilys, the main character, really learned an enormous amount about herself and the people that are most important in her life, which often, gets completely overlooked due to the trials of everyday living.

This book had me howling out loud one minute and quietly crying with recognition the next. The heroine is indeed heroic and quite how anyone would be able to manage the duplicitous behaviour she exhibited is beyond me, but I loved it!I usually read much darker works than this but Mavis Cheek brought a ray of sunshine into my life and I am so pleased to have found her. More power to her elbow.

Dilys Holmes has survived a difficult childhood and dysfunctional family and has been happily (if not ecstatically) married for many years. Now she is about to throw it all over for a mad infatuation with Matthew, a younger man with piercing blue eyes. Living a double life with two men is not easy, but Dilys proves surprisingly adept as her life hurtles toward disaster. That is the basic plot, complicated by layers of family conflict and the surprising revelations of her "difficult" elderly aunt Eliza, who turns up with her own tales of adulterous intrigue, and becomes Dilys' co-conspirator. So how does it turn out? Will Dilys leave Francis and all she holds dear to run off with Matthew? Will she come to her senses? You will just have to read it and see.The book is extremely well written. The bright, brassy Brit-speak added another dimension of entertainment for me; the characters were utterly engaging; the tension mounted to excruciating levels, and the surprise ending was--well--just right. I recommend this one highly. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber