The Continuity Girl

Canadian journalist McLaren's debut novel is the witty, down-to-earth story of Meredith Moore, a tinseltown toiler whose personal life is anything but perfect. In charge of making sure the placement and number of everything from cigarettes to ice cubes is continuous from scene to scene, Meredith's professional eye for perfection doesn't extend to her personal life. At 35, she is a self-proclaimed disaster area. After a visit to gynecologist Dr. Joe Veil, Meredith decides her biological clock has ticked long enough. After walking off the set of her latest film, Meredith yields to her eccentric poetess mother's pleas and returns to her native London. Joined by her best friend, Mish, Meredith starts work on a new film and sets out to satisfy her maternal pangs by finding a man to father her child. Meredith encounters an alcoholic falconer, a sadistic artist and a mysterious millionaire director as she tries to balance her desire for a child with her yearning for real romance. Despite a potentially cliched plot, McLaren's writing is crisp and her characters are surprisingly fresh, resulting in a novel that celebrates breaking away from the expected.