LIVING THE DREAM

by Lauren Berry (Virago £14.99)

MILLENNIALS in the workplace provide a new seam to mine for contemporary fiction.

Here, best friends emma Derringer and Clementine twist are in their late 20s and have big dreams. emma holds down a job she hates in an advertising agency, while aspiring to be a writer.

Clementine, recently returned from the states with no job and an ex-boyfriend who’s making his way in the film business, is determined to make it as a screen writer.

As their 20s slip away, the two women find themselves treading water in a lifestyle that’s boozy, broke and thwarted, and in which nothing much really happens.

the tone is light and chirpy, the observations often beady, and there’s plenty of humour to be enjoyed, but some of the plot threads are not always as fully developed as they might be, and the same goes for the characters.