The Woman in the Lobby (Lee Tulloch, Viking, $32.95 tpb, ISBN 9780670042951, May) ***

Melbourne-born author Lee Tulloch writes for newspapers and magazines such as the Age, Vogue Living and Australian Women’s Weekly. She has written five previous novels, including Wraith and Perfect Pink. Her latest novel The Woman in the Lobby is extremely provocative and darkly erotic. It follows the life of Violet, a wife tossed aside by her husband, who discovers that her stunning beauty is able to open doors to a world she could never have previously imagined. An off-the-cuff affair with a famous tennis player leads Violet to Paris where she soon finds herself alone and broke. From there she becomes an object of interest to many a rich man in the lobbies of some of the world’s most famous hotels, trading sex for life’s luxuries; exploring the possibility of separating love and sex. A chance meeting with a stranger named Florin leads Violet deeper into a world where human feelings are negotiable and discarded without contemplation. The Woman in the
Lobby will appeal to readers of Tulloch’s past novels, and those who like chicklit with a touch of eroticism. Tulloch’s writing style is easy to read, and keeps the reader’s interest.

Sharon Athanasos is a freelance reviewer and former bookseller

This review from Australian Bookseller & Publisher magazine is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2008, Thorpe-Bowker

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