So it comes as a complete surprise when her normally malleable husband moves the family to San Francisco, then decides he needs a month away to "find himself", leaving a furious Michelle stranded in a world of blonde, waif-like society wives she despises and terrified that her dream life is disintegrating.
Desperate for allies in this enemy territory, she strikes up friendships with an unlikely trio of outsiders whose only point of commonality is their desire to escape. The first of these, Aishe, has spent the past 14 years creating her own perfect life, one which includes only herself and her son, Gulliver, only to find that the last thing a teenage boy wants in his life is his mother.
The second, Gulliver's tutor Bernard, has spent years travelling from place to place in a desperate attempt to outrun his past, and is smitten by the hostile Aishe, a woman who has elevated misanthropy to an art form. And then there is Connie, one of the Stepford Wives for whom Michelle develops an unexpected sympathy and a determination to rescue. As volatile as this mix of personalities may be, it also creates opportunities for each of them to regain control of their lives.
In terms of the plot, some events are predictable, but other predictable events are absent, and although the novel contains its fair share of stereotypes and unlikely coincidences (Michelle's forthright, blunt-spoken Kiwi attitude is contrasted with the superficiality of the American trophy wives that surround her, while Aishe is the estranged sister of her best friend's boyfriend), it refuses to take itself seriously.
In fact The Not So Perfect Life of Mo Lawrence is as quirky, funny and unafraid to puncture pretension as Michelle herself. How can you help but enjoy a story in which a person can be cut from a cloth that is "the kind of synthetic, flocked upholstery fabric that felt like hell against your skin but which would wear until the crack of doom. And which matched the curtains"?
• Dr McKinney is a Dunedin scientist.
