The Journal Meets... Never Mind The Botox: Rachel author Joanna BerryOxford law graduate Joanna Berry has used all the inside knowledge from her career as an in-demand city lawyer in her second novel, about the personal and professional dilemmas of her fellow high-flyers.
Joanna left St Hida’s College in 1989 and quickly moved up the corporate ladder until she became one of the youngest partners at her firm, aged just 31. But four years ago she decided to take a career break after having her third child and together with co-writer Penny Avis, an accountant also on a career break, decided to throw herself into writing.
Over the next six months the pair wrote enough material for a series of novels, looking at a female professional involved in the sale of a high profile cosmetic surgery business. Never Mind the Botox: Rachel, available from Troubador Publishing, goes on general sale on January 16.
“What we are trying to do is slightly different to what most people think of as chick lit, which is generally about shoes, shopping and finding a man,” Joanna said. “A lot of chick lit books might mention what these women do at work and what their careers are but they don’t really go into it, even though work takes up 60 to 70 per cent of the character’s lives.
"What we wanted to do was to write about these women and their working environment. Readers are intelligent and often want to know what people do and have an interest in people's careers.
“We wanted the books to give a bit of an insight into what city girls actually do, the interesting, intriguing, gritty aspects of their jobs and the ethical and moral dilemmas they have to face. We wanted to focus on intelligent women having a normal life and juggling their own personal lives with a career.
“I had always had this idea working in the city as a lawyer, you meet so many weird and wonderful people, and I thought if people saw this in a book it would be so bizarre, people wouldn’t believe this.”
For more information, visit www.avisberry.com
