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  • Published: 6 February 2024
  • ISBN: 9781761341571
  • Imprint: Michael Joseph
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $34.99

Everything is Perfect




Cassandra seems to have it all – but behind her perfect façade she’s barely hanging on.

A captivating, honest and wry novel about a forty-something woman on the brink. Is it Peri? A midlife crisis? Or simply a cry for help?

Cassie Prince lives in a beautiful beach suburb with her successful husband Jon and their children Ellie and Danny. Life is perfect, right?

Except now she’s reached her mid-forties, she can’t help wondering what happened to the fun-loving, sexy and accomplished woman she used to be. This isn’t what was promised. She’s panicking about ageing, bored in her marriage, exhausted by her demanding kids, and increasingly torn by news of her sick mother back in England.

So Cassie does what she’s always done – buries her feelings and ignores her problems (and does some more online shopping).

Then at school drop-off she meets Chris Lancaster, a charismatic widowed father-of-five. Soon she can’t stop imagining romantic scenarios between them, even daydreaming of a future together.

She may have been spiralling these last few months, but now Cassie is convinced that the unsuspecting and still vulnerable widower is the answer to everything . . .


'An honest and hilarious story of the changes that come with middle age . . . I laughed, cried and cringed with Cass. This is an absolutely cracking debut novel. I devoured it.' Ali Lowe

‘A humorous but also a raw, honest, eye-opening account of a woman staring down the barrel of middle age. It is not only an accomplished piece of writing, but also an absorbing, gripping novel about a woman teetering on the edge.’ Dianne Blacklock
'Smart, fresh and nuanced, Everything is Perfect is a captivating story about ageing, self-worth and unprocessed trauma as seen through the eyes of a woman unravelling. Perfect for anyone who has ever lost sight of the shore in middle age.' Anna Downes

  • Published: 6 February 2024
  • ISBN: 9781761341571
  • Imprint: Michael Joseph
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $34.99

About the author

Maxine Fawcett

Maxine Fawcett lives in Sydney, where she runs her own media and marketing agency with her husband. Everything is Perfect is her debut novel.

Praise for Everything is Perfect

Everything is Perfect is a humorous but also a raw, honest, eye-opening account of a woman staring down the barrel of middle age. It is not only an accomplished piece of writing, but also an absorbing, gripping novel about a woman teetering on the edge.

Dianne Blacklock

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