'Happiness Sold Separately' by Lolly Winston

(Hutchinson, $36.99)Forty-year-old Elinor oackey is losing the plot. Exhausted by her battle with infertility, she hides in the laundry and withdraws from her lovely husband Ted, who in turn falls into the arms of Gina, a skinny gym nutritionist struggling with single motherhood and a stroppy 10-year-old son, Toby.

Happiness Sold Separately is the funny/sad story of two good people who love each other but are unhappily married, so can either stay that way or – what? I loved Lolly’s first novel, Sophie’s Bakery for the Broken Hearted. Plus, doesn’t she have the best name? Wouldn’t you like to be called Lolly? Anyway, I asked her a few questions about her new book.

Are you in a book club, Lolly? Not a proper book club, but I’ve attended a few. Some were wonderful, but some only spent a little time discussing the book before the women began to groan about their husbands and kids. I can’t have children of my own so that’s when I would feel a bit sad and want to dunk my head in the punch bowl.

As your book explores, infertility can be a devastating obsession. Do you think there is too much pressure on women to reproduce? I’m not sure women are pressured to have children, but some folks feel free and open about giving advice on how to do it! I was told to try everything from standing on my head to drinking cough syrup just before sex. As soon as I learned that IVF wasn’t an option for me any more, I got lots of advice on adoption. You know, “Just go down to oacys [department store] and charge yourself a baby from Cambodia.”

Using a leaf blower is a fast way to tidy a teenager’s room – and a great idea! Do you know anyone who has really tried it? When I first bought a house, I bought a leaf blower but it made my ears ring so the yard was still a mess. once, I tried to blow out the garage instead of sweeping it – I created a frightening hurricane of dust, spider webs and debris. Since then, I have always imagined a scene in a book where someone turns on a leaf blower in a room. My husband is like The odd Couple’s oscar and I’m more of a Felix, so I feel this frustration with his office – in fact, I even peered in there when drumming up details for Toby’s room.