Cheek, Mavis

(British, 1948– )

Cheek's are sharply comic novels, usually set in London and satirizing contemporary social and sexual mores. Their persistently witty and ironic tone is apparent in debates about the merits of relationships, the exposure of the aspirations and self-deceptions of the characters. In Janice Gentle Gets Sexy (1993) the auth or of delicate romances has her placid life transformed, for good or ill, by the arrival of a pushy publishing executive from New York. Sleeping Beauties (1996) is a very amusing account of the makeovers of three middle-aged women in a suburban beauty parlour by ambitious assistant Chloe, with disastrous consequences. Another woman with a failing love-life, interior designer Pam, has to choose between her ex-husband and two ex-lovers in Three Men on a Plane (1998), when they each invite her to spend Christmas in Dublin.

Shena Mackay, Candia McWilliam, Nigel Williams  JS