Reviewed by Ian

This is the story of a romance that starts by e-mail and suffers some difficulties. When the two central characters decide to meet for their 'one week in February',the results are by no means uncomplicated.

This story starts out exploring the development of a relationship by e-mail. It made me wonder about the time this involved because here were two people with lives to lead exchanging many messages daily. I worked out that it was feasible to do this (as long as they gave up television) and perhaps this part of the story could be developed more to show the progression and the way their communication takes over their lives.

We see the story through the eyes of Louise, a single mother living in Durban, South Africa. Almost all we know about her contact, Gadi, is what he chooses to tell her. This I found a bit difficult, I think, Christine, because it is really hard to make him believable as someone Louise could become so attracted to (for example, later in the story, I was quite surprised to find that a wife really existed - I thought you were creating an even bigger sleaze than he is). I guess that was my difficulty. In the end, what a romance needs is for the guy who gets the girl (or vice versa) to be 'worthy' and this story left me feeling much more sorry for the faithful, loving, unsuccessful foil, (even though he is never developed as a character), than I was happy that it all worked out in the end.

Christine does some really good, solid writing in this story, particularly where describing the face-to-face relationship after the two 'lovers' meet and where Louise gets on with life after her one week is over. Also, here is an example of a sort of open-ended ending. Christine leaves the reader to work out what happens for themselves (just like George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion) and if we are romantics, unlike Shaw, we'll probably conclude that they lived happily ever after (what do you think Christine?)