The Hot Flash Club is a powerful novel about women everywhere, no matter what their age, and how uplifting it is to have close friends.

The four women spend a lot of time talking over chocolate cake, and their very real conversations deal with serious subjects like sex, friendship and love in a very candid, "Golden Girls" type way.

Faye, Marilyn, Alice and Shirley are four very different women dealing with the same basic problem: menopause. Its onset is making them feel old and wreaking havoc in their lives.

These women are an inspiring group. Faye is an artist who stops taking hormones after discovering they are toxic. Shirley is a masseuse who dreams of more but cannot afford her vision. Marilyn is a scientist who worries that her son Teddy's fiancée likes his money more than Teddy. And Alice, a vice president in her company, wants to keep from losing her job to a younger woman.

They each agree to help each other, forming the Hot Flash Club.

(Jan., 320 pp., $21.95)

Reviewed by: 
Darby Hudspeth