Star Book Review: In Office Hours by Lucy Kellaway

     In Office Hours was a great book full of juicy gossip and serious scandal. Lucy Kellaway’s writing was clad full of all the kinds of details meant for watercooler banter - quite literally, as this novel took place inside a fictional 9-5 office environment in London. IOH wove together two stories about two British women, Stella and Bella, who were on opposite ends of the corporate ladder but who found themselves walking in the same shoes, when each one embarked on a love affair with a coworker that brought nonstop drama into both their personal and work lives. Caught up in romance and debauchery, Stella and Bella rode a rollercoaster with fate and what seemed like everlasting excitement quickly turned into turmoil and disappointment.



Working Girl illustration by Bella Pilar



British author, Lucy Kellaway did a fabulous job exploring the inner thoughts of two very different women and the feelings they are left with after entering an illicit love affair. They differed in everything from their ranks in the corporate world to their roles in family life and marital status and even differed in the men they went after. However, their differences almost evaporated when both were met with a personal and public humiliation as they were outed for their forbidden relationships at the workplace and at home. Having narrated the story in first-person, by alternating between the each woman's voice, In Office Hours truly allowed the reader to hear two very separate perspectives on what it means to be and feel like "the other woman".

****4 STARS ****

This is one of the few books I sincerely hope to see a movie made of in the next few years. Stella and Bella and the scandal that surrounds them would be more than ideal for the big screen. I’m thinking a gorgeous yet believably established woman, like Kelly Rutherford-type for Stella and for young yet naive mom, Bella, a pretty Leighton Meister-type. (I’m a huge Gossip Girl fan if you couldn’t tell.)

**What book would you like to see at the movies? And who would star in it?