The six characters in Mr Mikey’s Ladies, Lucy McCarraher’s naughty new novel based around a Sydney hairdressing salon, indulge in illicit intercourse for reasons typical of midlife women who stray from the straight and narrow:

Ageing soap star, Estelle, is afraid of losing her attraction to toy boys; Bella, beaten up by her husband, needs to feel adored again and take her mind off home; mousey Suzette finally finds sexual satisfaction with an old boyfriend; Debra can’t resist the intellectual intimacy with her tutor, Tom; and Corinne thinks her lover’s social status will build her self-esteem. And that just leaves Dolly, receptionist and wife to Mr Mikey himself, who is desperately seeking her soulmate and the unknown father of her child.

Like a staggering 73% of women - Mr Mikey’s ladies confide their sexual secrets to their hairdresser. South Londoner, Michael Gorman (aka Mr Mikey) married his Aussie lover’s sister so he could stay legally Down Under with the man of his dreams, but when Bryan died of a heart attack at a transvestite cabaret, Michael was left a gay, but far from merry, widow with a wife and child to support. Together, to make ends meet, he and wife Dolly opened their boutique hair and beauty salon, "Mr Mikey’s", in their bijou Balmain house.

In Lucy McCarraher’s heart-breakingly hilarious story, the ladies’ hairdresser is hardly a reliable repository for their secrets. Not that he blabs, he just decides that the only way out of his problems is to write a mega-musical which will shoot him to super-stardom, away from Dolly and her son, The Brat. The subject matter? It’s all in the title. "The Ladies", destined to be his one-hit wonder, is based on the outrageous and dangerously entangled love lives of his clients.

London-born Lucy McCarraher spent her twenties living Down Under, mainly in Sydney’s Balmain district where her third novel, Mr Mikey’s Ladies is set. Its brand of humour and colloquial dialogue clearly draws on her life as an honorary Australian.

Lucy has filtered other strands of her comprehensive experience into this novel. Her background as a social researcher is best articulated by Tom, the sexy university tutor, who identifies the subject of Debra’s thesis and the subtext of this musical novel: "Repetitive Patterns of Attraction in Dysfunctional Relationships"!

Now Norfolk-based, Lucy McCarraher was a member of the team who developed the ground-breaking Lovers Guide adult sex education videos. "Some scenarios from shooting the explicit material, not to mention my research into ‘what women really want’, may have found its way into Mr Mikey’s Ladies," she admits. "As have some of the love lives of my friends, though I’m not saying whose…."

Her theatrical and screen writing experience also breaks through the fiction format with the snappy dialogue and choreographed musical scenes based on her own, and Mr Mikey’s, love of classic girly anthems, from ABBA kitsch, Queen camp, to sweet Cyndi Lauper, the soulful grit of Aretha Franklin and swooning balladry of Dusty Springfield.

Mr Mikey’s Ladies is published by YouWriteOn/Legend Press (January 2009)
RRP: £6.99 Paperback: 188 pages Dimensions: 22.9 x 15.2 x 1.1 cm
ISBN-10: 1849233594 ISBN-13: 978-1849233590

Praise for MR MIKEY’S LADIES:

"Written with her usual fluency and panache: very funny in parts, very sexy in others. There is considerable cynicism but also humanity and affection. As a man I’m intrigued to read how women think about and discuss some of these intimate issues - it’s a very entertaining book."

-Mike Barnard, Macmillan

"This is great fun - gloriously camp in places and the stories of Mr Mikey’s clients are most entertaining. The steamy scenes are well done and the musical element very Mama Mia! With its idiosyncrasies and sheer originality, I do think it’s accomplished."

-Maxine Hitchcock, Harper Collins

"A lovely writer; it’s lots of fun and the plot is meant to be taken with a dose of salt."

-Louise Thurtell, Allen and Unwin

"This reminded me just how stylish - and funny - a writer Lucy McCarraher is, and there’s lots I enjoyed about it - it did make me laugh, I liked the clarity of the voice, the humour, the setting."

-Will Atkins, Macmillan New Writing

"A truly remarkable, brilliantly written book. Everyone should read it, whether or not they approve!"

-Jo Holloway, Sunberry Books