Genteel housewife and mother Deborah has an addiction. 'I'm a bookaholic,' she confesses. 'I just can't help myself.'

Deborah's youngest daughter has finally flown the nest and her husband Wally is absent, burning off the fuel of a mid-life crisis with endless rounds of golf and tennis. Deborah is also occupied, enjoying romantic lunches with Martin Amis and passionate hotel trysts with John Updike. But that's just in her dreams.