Another great book by Kathy Lette.
She is a great author & this book lives up to her usual high standards.

After previewing chapter one of The Revenge Clue a while back, I was eagerly awaiting the arrival of the full book. It was worth the wait.

Kathy Lette has created incredibly likeable characters in Jo, Matilda, Cressida and Penny. Four women headed for their 60s, feeling happy and content with how their lives have turned out until, well, men.

Each of the four find themselves suddenly facing lives that they hadn’t planned for and do not want at the hands of the men in their lives.

Not content to sit back and take it lying down, they decide to get revenge.

A deliciously devilish romp of a read, which gives you all the girl power feels.

Sweet Retribution..
Matilda, Jo, Penny and Cressy - intelligent, independent, bright, funny, sassy - all highly successful women. So why, suddenly, do they find themselves in a situation where they are being overlooked? The world, it seems, is still a man’s one - and age plays its part in a woman’s. These women scorned are most definitely not going down without a fight - and it will be the fight of their lives. Enter - The Revenge Club - getting mad and getting even. And, it will be so, so sweet. A fabulous romp through the struggles of women everywhere and how it feels to enjoy that delicious taste of sweet retribution. Funny and furious.

Kathy Lette, The Revenge Club, Aria and Aries, May 2024.

Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with this uncorrected proof for review.

Kathy Lette has not let her joy in creating a comedy undermine her strong story line that promotes the abilities and strengths of women fast approaching their sixties, a continuing fight to break the glass ceiling, and the perfections and perils of friendship, partnerships and children. The Revenge Club is such a romp – but also such a marvellous insight into women’s friendships, partnering and dealing with children. It is Lette’s ability to combine joyous writing, graphic descriptions and serious content that makes this such a powerful and fun novel.

Matilda, Cressida, Penny and Jo meet, at Jo’s invitation, after an estrangement at the Oxford May Ball at the end of their university years. Matilda, Cressida and Penny are successful – two in paid careers, Cressida, one-time successful actress, now providing support for her executive husband and their two children. Matilda has two children also and is a single parent except for their father’s access to her bank accounts, their children’s hearts full time, and hers on foolish occasions. Matilda is a writer and expecting her latest novel to garner a lucrative contract. Penny is childless, an intelligent television presenter who appears with a younger, but less able, male presenter. Success and belief in women’s equal status in a now ideal world oozes out of the three in their meeting with Jo. She is far less confident that the glass ceiling has been broken and has ensured her success by adopting a male persona.

Matilda, Cressida and Penny are quietly buoyant about their futures, while remaining kindly towards, as they believe, errant Jo. They vaguely speculate on what went wrong with their friendship in the past but coming to a conclusion about that is not their priority. After all, they have important meetings in the offing which will seal their success and support their belief that all is well in women’s world. Of course, they are disillusioned in some well-drawn scenarios – a strength in this novel, where pathos and comedy mix freely. Meeting with Jo again they adopt plans for revenge.

Beautifully realised is Melody, Matilda’s daughter who is on the autism spectrum. Melody is a joy to meet, with her special needs outweighed by her contribution to her mother and her friends’ revenge plan. Charlie, her brother is also a character who adds to the interest in this novel – Lette does so well in her characterisations, and the children are worthy contributors to these. The men are also described with a range of emotions and behaviours that, while they are mostly deplorable, add to the comedy as well as the grim realities of the patriarchy. Matilda, Cressida, Penny and Jo are remarkable almost sixty-year-olds without being implausible.

With its well woven themes of revenge, sisterhood (and its shortcomings) dips into the television and writing worlds and the ugly all male world of the awards ceremony, Kathy Lette has written a novel well worth reading. I look forward to seeing more of her new work, and catching up with the old.

This tale of revenge is hilarious but after a while the constant one liners became too much. I would have liked more depth in the characters. I think it would make a great short story. Not for me, but other readers may well enjoy it.

Classic Kathy Lette. Sparky and intelligent. Another bonkers (in all the right ways) but tightly plotted story from the Queen of irreverent humour. Kept me chuckling all the way through. Loved it!!

I first read Kathy Lette’s books in the mid Nineties and laughed and laughed through them all. Nothing has changed. The Revenge Club is a fabulous romp with women who have had enough of being disregarded for their age and sex and exact the best revenge on the men who have made them feel that way.
It’s funny, clever, witty and frankly wonderful. I loved the characters and their back stories and how that they turn the tables.
There is a little poetic licence with regard to Jo and the way they can become ‘one of them’.
I would highly recommend this for a genuine laugh and it’s better than any self help manual to think the feminist way!

Absolutely brilliant, loved it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me an advance copy, I will definitely be recommending.

Thanks to Aria & Aries and Net Galley for the ARC! I was first granted access to the extract of this book and was HOOKED! The twist is so original!

This book follows a group of friends who are being overlooked because they’re female and ageing, so they form the revenge club to get back at the men that have wronged them.

It’s a really fun, and funny book but I found 400+ pages a lot.

I hadn’t heard of Kathy Lette before this book, which I was drawn to because of its great cover art, and I’m not sure I’m the target audience. I found the pursuit of farfetched revenge fun, but the quips and remarks from the characters got a little grating to me by the end. For me, this could have been a 4 star read if a hundred pages from the middle could have been cut.

Overall, an entertaining read, if you’re looking for a funny take on the female rage revenge plot then this is the book for you!

I loved the premise of this, but unfortunately it just wasn't for me. Too much repetitive lecturing , I found myself scanning through to see how they got their revenge. Though not for me, I'm sure others will enjoy it.

An totally fun read where four women come together to bring down some utter idiot men from their lives. Fun and with more than a passing nod to the 'Me-Too' movement. Light and quick to read with an especially entertaining last few chapters The main character, Matilda a comedian sometimes tries too hard to be funny but her autistic daughter and wayward son are a pure delight. Lighthearted but also giving us a reminder about cherishing one's friendships, maybe having overlooked their emotional needs whilst being involved in our own lives. Certainly highlights the invisibility of the older woman.

‘The Revenge Club’ by Kathy Lette is a witty feminist tale of revenge, the sisterhood and being a vibrant and smart woman in her fifties. The story begins with old pals and bandmates Matilda (our narrator), Cressida and Penny waiting at a table in a fancy London restaurant to meet Jo, the fourth member of their former friendship group who has returned to London for work after years in the US. The excitement of the reunion and an unexpected revelation from Jo soon turns sour when Matilda, Cressida and Penny are all confronted by “the four horsemen of the female ageist apocalypse: criticism, contempt, stonewalling and invisibility.” The burning desire for revenge brings the four women together as they plot the demise of their patriarchal tormentors.

I really liked some aspects of this book: there were so many acerbic one-liners that had me laughing out loud. Their plans were funny and devious, and the involvement of Matilda’s children was enjoyable. I also lapped up the finale which felt very fitting and empowering!

I have to admit, I did find some of the lamentations of the characters repetitive and a few of the plot points a little far-fetched. I’m not sure the book had that much new content to add to the feminist agenda and a twist some way through the book didn’t come as a huge surprise. I also thought that the novel would have been more interesting with a more diverse group of main characters - while one character was referred to as working class, this didn’t seem to impact her career trajectory and felt like tokenism.

Overall, I’m giving this three stars. I really would recommend it for a quick, amusing read! However I would have preferred more bite and diversity.

I was kindly provided with a digital review copy by the publisher, Aria & Aries via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This was an east read which I devoured in a short time. Seemingly four successful women, who are not so young, have their lives upturned by selfish and misogynistic men. Revenge is sweet. At times I did feel a bit like I was being lectured to, but mostly it was humourous in places and delightful to see the bad guys get their comeuppance. Underneath, there are serious issues at play here, and Kathy Lette is astute enough to call out the women who deserted Jo in her time of need. A book to read for entertainment, but also a book that does show some gender issues warts and all.

I was excited to read this book after receiving a copy of the first chapter. The concept is one every woman would get behind, the idea of revenge against men misusing their power in a men' world.
At a reunion of four successful university friends, Jo turns up incognito, dressed and living as Joseph. She tells them it is part of her plan to get revenge on her employer who fired her for being a woman of a certain age, but re-employed her as a man.
As the friends lives' begin to fall apart, the friends plan their revenge, but the biggest revenge plot is one they don't see coming.
I'm afraid I was rather disappointed with the novel. Matilda, the writer and journalist in the group, is the comedian. But the dialogue is peppered with so many of her quips that it just became irritating and I wanted her to just shut up or at least be funny. And while the revenge unfolded in a way I didn't see coming, the rest of the ending was a bit too obvious.

Four fifty plus woman meet again and plot revenge on the men who done them wrong. Interesting characters that carried the drama of the book very well. This book made me laugh out loud in places. Would recommend that everyone should read it. Great book.

Having read an earlier excerpt from this preview, I was extremely excited to read Kathy Lette’s latest novel. A big fan of Lette’s previous work I could not wait to read this.
However I was so disappointed with The Revenge Club. The premise is simple. Each one of the 4 main characters has had some injustice caused by a man and conspire together to effect their revenge. Lette’s trademark acerbic wit is here in abundance, but I couldn’t help but feel drained by the constant puns, feminist lectures and reminders that women are the weaker sex. The 4 main characters are defined by their injustice rather than highlighting just how strong they could be despite this.
Whilst I did enjoy the revenge played out in the last few chapters, any loose ends all get rather too conveniently tied up in a pretty stereotypical way. This is definitely, to use Lette’s own phrase, an example of ‘don’t give a shit-lit’, which ultimately is how I feel about the book.

Love the idea but I'm afraid I got turned off right away by the plight of the first character -- as far as I could tell, she put herself in the bad position by sticking to her on again off again gambling addict boyfriend for 30 years just because she couldn't help herself from melting when she looked into his eyes. The comedy was funny but I couldn't get rid of the thought that she didn't have to get into that position to begin with. So I did not finish :-( 3 stars for being well written and for the humor.

I’m not a fan of just being given an extract from a book to review but the title lured me in and the chapter we were given to sample didn’t disappoint. I look forward to reading the book. It promises to be a really good read! I would say though that I won’t be requesting any Extracts in the future, I can get the first chapter of any book to read on Amazon, and reading one chapter now and not being able to read the rest till May of next year seems pointless. I feel I can only give three stars due to the small amount of material on which to base my opinion.
However, I do still thank the author, the publishers, and NetGalley for an advance e.copy Extract of this book.

really fun feminist drama with some interesting characters that worked very well! thanks so much for the ARc, would recommend

This was such a fun read. I adored the characters and it was such a good thing the four main characters (Matilda, Penny, Cressida and Jo) were in their 50s, as it made it more believable. The women all have their own lives, personalities and voices. I have been let down by men throughout my life and this story is so relatable. Gosh….I would have enjoyed a little revenge club lol. Not saying that I would take it as far as Jo. I finished this book in just a couple of hours as it was fast-paced and enough happening to keep me fully entertained. The direct and dry humour made me laugh out loud with tears in my eyes. Definitely recommend this book if you want a light and funny read with some serious messages.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you, NetGalley, and Aria or Aries Fiction for this ARC.