Since hairdresser Gemma ended her marriage to workaholic insurance salesman David she has been living in Sandymount with her two children, happy with her decision to go it alone, but at 35 and single again, is suddenly feeling older.
What makes it worse is that David has just got remarried to (quelle surprise) a leggy, successful, twentysomething who makes Gemma feel like an ancient frump. We know this because in the very first paragraph of Far From Over, Gemma dubs Orla the "flamehaired bimbo bitch". Regrettably, it's a nickname as clunky and inauthentic as much of the dialogue in O'Flanagan's latest novel.
Back at the newly-wed couple's Dun Laoghaire apartment everything is not going exactly as the flame-haired bimbo bitch planned. At 24 she is a high flyer in her stressful sales job, but can't compete with the inescapable shadow of her perfect homemaker predecessor, whom she refers to as "blobby Gemma". Her competitive drive is soon irritating David who says he is making enough money for both of them.
While once madly in love, it's not long before both David and Orla begin to question their marriage, each looking back (David to Gemma and Orla to an old boyfriend) to times when they both perceive they were happier. Meanwhile, Gemma, who has been living way beyond her divorced means, enjoys a brief flirtation on holiday that gives her a new lease of life and gets her back on financial track.
Far From Over plods along inoffensively, exploring the problems of contemporary relationships but failing to sparkle in the manner those books destined to be read on a sunny beach should. Worth packing in the suitcase, yes, but maybe it would also be worth including a few of O'Flanagan's contributions to this newspaper, which are stylishly written and more engrossing. Judging by past sales the former banker turned author has found a winning formula and this one will probably fly. Still, Far From Over is a safe, at times dull, package. Rather like blobby Gemma.
Roisin Ingle is an Irish Times journalist