Fat Ugly Stupid

Life is supposed to get better and better, isn’t it?  But, what if it doesn’t? What if you meet the love of your life at school and what if he publicly humiliates you? Where do you go from there?

Fat, Ugly, Stupid is that story.  Laura falls for Steve during Maths when they are both 15 and she interprets his polite friendliness as romantic interest. One day, after he hears about Laura’s crush Steve calls her out in front of a group of his friends and she is mortified.

The story follows Laura and Steve over the next five decades catching up with them every 10 years from age 15 when they are at school together until age 55 when they literally bump into each other again. Via friends Laura never really loses touch with Steve’s life and hears how it progresses.  Steve on the other hand is oblivious to Laura and has a complete shock when he meets her again.

Steve remains friends with Al, his best mate at school.  How does their friendship develop and what effect does he have on Steve and Laura’s relationship?

Laura goes to university where her life changes and she encounters Marcus, Stephen and later in life, Tom. Does she forget about Steve?

Despite the subject matter, I wrote the book light-heartedly, borrowing life experiences I’ve heard about and a few from me to put together an enjoyable story of life, love, loss and determination. Elements that occur in everyone’s lives.

I really loved writing this book.  The inspiration came from watching a TV drama and quickly formed in my head.  I enjoyed creating the story from a different timing perspective and trying to get into the heads of both chief protagonists particularly Steve.  Once finished, I nevertheless had a good deal of anxiety about the appropriateness of the story and whether it was relevant today – my school years being a long way behind me. A friend asked me if she could use the story as her book of the month in her book club so, I took the plunge and quickly published it on Amazon.  The group kindly invited me along to the review which nearly gave me an anxiety attack but I am very pleased to say they all really enjoyed it.  I found myself listening to people discussing my characters and storylines as if I was a real ‘grown up’ writer. I was especially pleased that the small nuances, details, and threads that I had woven through the story were noticed and discussed, some times in great depth. The review gave me enormous confidence and I am very grateful to all those concerned.