Lace

"Oh my goodness, Lace. If you only read one book from this list, it’s this one. I want you to read all of them, but if you’re only going to pick one, then go for Lace . It’s the biggest whodunnit of all, but in a way that you could never have expected. It’s about three girls who go to a Swiss boarding school and discover boys. They’re the best of friends, and one of them gets pregnant. They all talk about it collectively and it’s written in such a way that, as the reader, you don’t which one of them it is. It’s such a clever book, so well written, I don’t think I’ve read anything like it either before or after. They make a pact that they’re going to give up the child and that whichever one of them does well and has the money to bring the child up first will go and get her. Then they give the child away. Each one of them ends up being very successful. One is the editor of a top magazine. One of them is the boss of a huge charity and another one is married to a count. They’re all huge, but none of them pick up the child. It drives them apart. They’re not in touch, really, anymore. Then the plot slips to the daughter, Lili, who ends up becoming a famous porn star (the book was ahead of its time because what are we living in now? Pornland). She tracks them down, all three of them, and brings them together in a hotel room in New York. That leads to one of the most infamous and memorable lines of all time, ‘Which one of you bitches is my mother?’ That’s the jaw drop because we still don’t know. And they leave the room and they all go off without telling her. Then there’s a knock on the door, and we find out. I always forget who it is. I’ve read the book and watched the miniseries so many times, and I always remember to forget. Then, when she turns up, you go like, ‘Oh, it was her. ‘ Then you get flashbacks and so on and you go on to Lace 2. God, I love that book."