Jane Fallon Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Anthologies

Jane Fallon is a British author of bestselling chick noir novels that include the likes of “Tell Me A Secret,” “Getting Rid of Matthew,” “Faking Friends,” “Got You Back,” “My Sweet Revenge,” “Foursome,” “Strictly Between Us,” “The Ugly Sister” and “Skeletons.” Fallon is a former television producer best known for “20 Things To Do Before You’re 30,” “This Life,” “Teachers,” and “EastEnders.” In 2011, her novel “Foursome” made the shortlist for the Melissa Nathan Romantic Comedy Fiction award. The novel “Faking Friends” was shortlisted for the Comedy Women in Print and the National Book awards. Before she became an author, she was best known for being in a relationship with Ricky Gervais who she met while they were both students at the University College. They have been living together since 1984 and are currently based in Hampstead.

Jane Fallon was born in 1960 in Harrow Road in North London. Her family would then move to Buckinghamshire, where she went to St. Bernard’s Convent School in Slough. After graduating from high school. she attended University College London where she read history. She got her first job working for a small Literary and Theatrical Agency known as “Girl Friday.” Rebecca the lead of her novel “Foursome” happens to work the same job and in the same agency. She loved working in drama and asserts that it played a significant role in influencing her to get into the arts. Three years in, she left to go work on TV and she found a job as a freelance script reader before becoming a script editor. She worked on the script for several shows the most popular of which was “EastEnders,” where she got promoted to producer in 1994. In 1995 she started working on “This Life,” a low budget new show on BBC2.

She has always been a shy and self-contained person since she was a child, which is why she probably gravitated towards scriptwriting and production. Nonetheless, she had always wanted to become a published author and she did write and abandon several novels when she was working in TV. In 2006 she decided to fulfill her lifelong ambition and handed in her resignation and gave herself a year to publish her first title. “Getting Rid of Matthew” her debut novel was published in 2007 by Penguin and fast became a bestseller selling more than 300,000 copies in the United Kingdom. Since then, the novel has been published into more than 16 languages and is set to be made into a film. Similar to Getting Rid of Matthew the subsequent novel “Got You Back” focuses on the lives of a wife, her philandering husband, and his girlfriend. “Faking Friends” treads the same familiar territory as it deals with deceit and betrayal in the most trusted relationships in a woman’s life – from her fiancé and her best friend. Fallon writes what she calls chick noir, which is some type of classic chick-lit with a dark twist. Fallon asserts that she has always loved chick lit since it became popular in the 1990s, but got bored with it when the novels became so cutesy and annoying. She thinks of her novels as being funnier, grown-up and spikier in a non-girly way.

Jane Fallon’s “Getting Rid of Matthew” tells the story of Helen, a single woman that exemplifies the saying be careful what you wish for. As she approaches her forties, she finds herself in a relationship with a married man that also happens to be her boss. Her job is not all that exciting as she is a glorified secretary and PA who has to deal with monotonous and oftentimes mundane tasks for her boss. Helen lives in a small flat that she thinks is a dump and hates her life. But she believes things would be so much better if she had Matthew all to herself and not have to steal a few hours or the odd weekend here and there. It would be so much different if only they were a family and not just having an affair. Her wishes come true when Matthew drinks one too many at a family dinner and things come to a head. He packs his bags, leaves his wife and moves in with Helen. She soon finds that things are not as fun as she thought they would be since Matthew is a father, has a divorce to take care of and he is also significantly older than her. Add in the patronizing, the hair coloring, and snoring and he is quickly turning from Prince to frog.

“Got You Back” is an intriguing novel that tells the story of Stephanie a London stylist and wife. She is married to a vet named James who splits his time between his work in North London and his office in Lower Shippingham. He loves his family but feels that he needs some excitement since he has been married for several years and is getting bored with the routine. As such, when he meets Katie he thinks he has found just what he needs as he has never felt more alive. They move in together and they are soon spending at least three nights together in her cottage in Lower Shippingham. Stephanie his wife is non the wiser as she assumes her husband is working until she stumbles upon a text in his phone. James had uncharacteristically forgotten to delete one of the texts that Katie had sent to him and now his wife is determined to find who the mistress is. Rather than the usual shenanigans of cheating husband and jealous wife, Stephanie intends to join forces with Katie who also does not know that the man she has been dating is married. They intend to make his life as miserable as he had made theirs.

Jane Fallon’s “Faking Friends” tells the all too familiar story of deceit and betrayal. Her fiancé and her best friend that she had had since she was in high school just betrayed their friendship and relationship. The lead in the novel is an actress that has been working in New York as part of a crime show, which meant that she had to leave Jack her fiancé back home. When she gets an opportunity to get away from work, she decides to go back to their home and surprise her fiancé. She also hopes to surprise Melissa who is also having a fortieth birthday celebration. However, she gets the shock of her life when she arrives to find glaring signs of a woman living with her fiancé. She is devastated when she finds out that her best friend Melissa is the woman in question when she sees them holding hands. Given that the character she had been playing in the show had been killed off, she decides to stay behind to plan vengeance against Jack and Melissa.