Book lover - Jennifer Kaufman

One woman's passion for books and search for romance lie at the heart of this touching and funny novel about literature and longing in Los Angeles

`Women do different things when they're depressed. Some smoke, others drink, some call their therapists, some eat . And I do what I have always done - go off on a book bender that can last for days.'

Whenever she's in crisis - her marriage ends, her career stalls, her fantasy man shows signs of human frailty - Dora (named after Eudora Welty) escapes into not one, not two, but a carefully selected stack of books, shutting the door on the outside world until she emerges from her book binge strong enough to face her problems. Books have always been her saving grace, sheltering her during a difficult childhood and arming her with lessons and epigrams that are right for nearly every situation. But life is more complicated than a-book-a-day, and people - like her ex-alcoholic mother and judgmental sister - aren't as compliant as beloved characters in a novel .

Whether she's being seduced by a quotation-quipping Quixote, or explaining death to a child by reading from `Charlotte's Web', Dora is Every-reader, and her charming story, shot through with humour and humanity, will delight anyone who's ever sought solace in the pages of a book.

Jennifer Kaufman was a staff reporter for the Los Angeles Times for 10 years and is currently a freelance writer.

'Stuffed with saucy literary asides, this is a book that name-checks dusty classics as frequently as hot labels. Yet it's Dora who lifts it so far above the forest of pink-jacketed chick-lit: tart yet tender-hearted, she's fully aware of the messiness that separates real life from literature.' The Daily Mail