Elizabeth Jane Howard was a model and actress turned novelist. She published Getting it Right in 1982, and it was made into a movie a few years later.

Gavin Lamb is a 31-year-old hair dresser in London. He still lives at home. He’s shy beyond measure. And he has a fear of interacting with people. He likes Mozart and Tolstoy, but women scare him, even his overbearing, neurotic mother, who wants to control every facet of his and his father’s lives.

Then Gavin gets forced to attend a party, and his life changes forever when he meets two women:  the colorful Joan, rich and married; and Minnie Munday, a party-crasher who claims to be royalty. Gavin has never seen so much crazy in one place, but these two women will teach him about finding true love.

Getting it Right is an interesting read about sometimes-colorful characters. I didn’t realize it was published in in 1982 when I was asked to review it, so the setting took me a few minutes to assimilate to. Gavin initially reminded me of Ignatius J. Reilly in A Confederacy of Dunces, but he grew so much as a character that that comparison faded from my mind.

(Galley provided by Open Road Integrated Media via NetGalley.)

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