Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary, a light, comical take on the plight of an unmarried woman of a certain age, spawned numerous copycat novels of varying quality. Nick Hornby, likewise, inspired a wave of male imitators with his tales of loveable but bewildered men obsessing about football, music and women. However, it’s not all ‘chick lit’ and ‘lager sagas’. While the marketing of many ‘relationship’ novels may give the impression that we are being swamped with insubstantial froth, these titles show that many writers are sneaking serious issues between the prettily packaged covers, such as Anna Maxted’s exploration of body image and anorexia in Running in Heels or Tony Parson’s sensitive look at loss and mourning in One for My Baby.

Balasubramanyam, Rajeev In Beautiful Disguises

Bloomsbury, 2000, £14.99, ISBN 0-7475-4702-5, hbk
Bloomsbury, 2001, £6.99, ISBN 0-7475-5341-6, pbk

The funny and moving story of a seventeen-year-old girl in South India attempting to come to terms with her own identity and avoid the traditional arranged marriage her family is trying to force on her. Led by her romantic dreams, she runs away. 'Colourful, spirited and crackling with charm.' The Guardian

Barker, Raffaella Summertime

Review, 2001, £10.00, ISBN 0-7472-2082-4, hbk
Review, 2002, £5.99, ISBN 0-7472-6222-5, pbk

Summertime is the sequel to Raffaella Barker's novel Hens Dancing and is a six-month snapshot of the life of Ventia Summers and the three children she is raising alone. Much of the action revolves around the domestic tedium of food, school runs and gardening, but this is a funny and humane examination of the frustrations and joys of rural life, and of being both a parent and single.

Burston, Paul Shameless

Abacus, 2001, £9.99, ISBN 0-349-11309-2, pbk
Abacus, 2002, £6.99, ISBN 0-349-11479-X, pbk

A warm, witty and moving account of the London gay scene and its denizens. Shameless is an unsentimental and sometimes scathing look at that world and its obsessions with body image, drugs and fashion. Will Self said that 'Paul Burston has penned the sharp truth about gay London, cleverly coated with sweet and sour wisecracks.'

Delingpole, James Fin

Picador, 2000, £10.00, ISBN 0-330-39268-9, pbk
Picador, 2001, £6.99, ISBN 0-330-48045-6, pbk

Described in The Times as 'a clever social comedy', Fin is a novel of obsession and neurosis. Joe's fear of sharks is the novel's underlying theme and it is through confronting this fear that he is able to come to terms with problematic friendships, career crises and relationship disasters. An unusual take on 30-something male angst.

Duffy, Stella Immaculate Conceit

Hodder & Stoughton, 2000, £10.00, ISBN 0-340-77001-5, pbk
Sceptre, 2001, £6.99, ISBN 0-340-77002-3, pbk

Also well respected as a crime writer, Stella Duffy's third non-crime novel is a touching modern fable that reworks the virgin birth. Immaculate Conceit is also a sharp-edged satire about single motherhood, mental health and the ownership of the body.

Forrester, Anouchka Grose Darling Daisy

Flamingo, 2000, £9.99, ISBN 0-00-225842-0, pbk
Flamingo, 2001, £6.99, ISBN 0-00-655157-2, pbk

Through the heroine's diaries, Darling Daisy tells the story of an American living in London, her loathsome housemates and her frustrating boyfriend. Slacker style, Daisy manages to achieve very little in spite of half-hearted attempts to write poetry and have an affair. An original take on life, love and house-sharing.

Gayle, Mike Turning Thirty

Flame, 2000, £10.00, ISBN 0-340-76793-6, pbk
Flame, 2001, £6.99, ISBN 0-340-76794-4, pbk

In previous novels, Mike Gayle chronicled the highs and lows of life as a twenty-something. In Turning Thirty, the hero, Matt Beckford, is optimistically anticipating his thirtieth birthday, a time, he feels, to grow up and shape up. But as relationships collapse and career doubts creep in Matt is forced to reassess his world view.

Gold, Emma Hard

Flame, 2001, £10.99, ISBN 0-340-76696-4, pbk

Told with acerbic wit, Gold's second novel tackles sexual harassment in the workplace and is a clever exploration of the impact of work on women's lives. After a string of wildly varied yet unsatisfying jobs, Emma finally finds one she likes, working for a temping agency. But she is horrified when the boss begins to take a bit too much interest in things that are not strictly professional.

Kinsella, Sophie The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic

Corgi, 2000, £6.99, ISBN 0-552-99887-7, pbk

Financial journalist Rebecca Bloomwood spends her life telling others how best to manage their money. However, Rebecca's own finances lurch from bad to worse as she constantly indulges in retail therapy. A witty look at consumerism and our obsession with material goods.

Lanigan, Damian Stretch, 29

HarperCollins, 2000, £6.99, ISBN 0-00-651428-6, pbk

Stretch, 29 is a darkly humorous satire on modern manners. The anti-hero, Frank Stretch, is an anally retentive Londoner who casts a waspish eye over his eclectic circle of friends. 'This novel is lit by some truly fine writing and observation ... [it] has moments of Dickensian greatness.' The Independent

Lette, Kathy Nip 'n' Tuck

Picador, 2001, £9.99, ISBN 0-330-39245-X, pbk

Possibly Kathy Lette's grittiest and most poignant novel to date, Nip 'n' Tuck satirises the world of plastic surgery. It is also an analysis of marriage, friendships, careers and the pressures that women find themselves under as they grow older.

Lloyd, Josie and Rees, Emlyn The Boy Next Door

Heinemann, 2001, £16.99, ISBN 0-434-00906-7, hbk
Arrow, 2002, £6.99, ISBN 0-09-941482-1, pbk

This is the third book from a married couple who write alternate chapters in first-person male and female voices. The Boy Next Door is a gentle tale of modern-day technology and old-fashioned romance. It focuses on two reunited schoolfriends and a will-they-won't-they scenario played out against the backdrop of their small-town past.

Lott, Tim White City Blue

Penguin Books, 2000, £6.99, ISBN 0-14-026649-6, pbk

White City Blue is set in and around west London, where Lott shrewdly explores the rules of rivalry and lust that underpin male friendships. Lott is strong on laddish banter yet beneath the bravado and cocksure proclamations this is a sensitive examination of memory, failure and fear.

Maxted, Anna Running in Heels

Arrow, 2001, £6.99, ISBN 0-09-941019-2, pbk

Maxted's second novel is an intelligent portrayal of the issues surrounding anorexia, the misunderstandings created by the disease and the different forms in which it expresses itself. It is also a highly accessible read about being a twenty-something in London, and there are plenty of quirky sub-plots, humorous twists and romantic turns to maintain interest.

Parsons, Tony One for My Baby

HarperCollins, 2001, £15.99, ISBN 0-00-226182-0, hbk
HarperCollins, 2002, £6.99, ISBN 0-00-651481-2, pbk

One for My Baby is a novel about the possibilities and power of love. Having lost the one woman in his life he thought he could be happy with, Alfie Budd takes a job teaching English in Hong Kong. Forced to re-evaluate all his beliefs about love, Britishness and being foreign, Alfie rediscovers himself.

Srivastava, Atima Looking for Maya

Quartet Books, 1999, £10.00, ISBN 0-7043-8109-5, pbk
Quartet Books, 2000, £7.00, ISBN 0-7043-8132-X, pbk

Looking for Maya is the story of the bright but naive Mira, recently graduated and looking for adventure. Her boyfriend has left London for the summer but after meeting an older and more sophisticated man Mira's life is changed for ever. A novel about passion, friendship and cultural identity.

Sutcliffe, William The Love Hexagon

Penguin Books, 2000, £5.99, ISBN 0-14-028368-4, pbk

A slightly neurotic but involving cast of twenty-somethings play a complex mating game in this witty comedy of manners. Sutcliffe has a good ear for dialogue and his insights into contemporary life are both brutal and convincing.

Syal, Meera Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee

Doubleday, 1999, £12.99, ISBN 0-552-99952-0, hbk
Anchor Books, 2000, £6.99, ISBN 0-385-41072-7, pbk

Writer, comedienne and actress Meera Syal explores the ties that bind three Indian women living in London. With a satirical eye on the media, the strengths and limits of female friendships, mixed race relationships, infidelity and arranged marriages, Syal steers her characters through some significant growing up.

Thorne, Matt Pictures of You

Weidenfeld, 2001, £12.99, ISBN 0-297-64667-2, hbk
Orion Paperbacks, 2002, £6.99, ISBN 0-7538-1344-0, pbk

A light-hearted romantic romp in which the protagonists relate more to film characters than to reality. Pictures of You is a lively expose of the social mores that govern contemporary relationships and the confusions and misinterpretations of friendship. An entertaining examination of the boundaries between life and fiction.