Hannah thinks you have to be absolutely nuts to want to get married. She's quite content with her life thank you very much - her job as a private investigator (albeit not a very successful one) for Hound Dog investigations, Jason (her boyfriend of ten years standing), and her relationship with her wonderful dad (pity her mum is such a disaster).
Besides which, she's tried it once but she and Jack ended up divorced before she was 21: well really, a bit much to ask a girl to stay faithful when she's scarcely out of her teens and the world is full of such wonderful men! So when the long- suffering Jason proposes Hannah doesn't think twice about turning him down. But would she have said no quite so
quickly had she known that only a month later he'd have gotten engaged to another person? Is she really the emotional retard that Jason thinks she is? Hannah's family is acting like she blew the one fluky chance she had of hooking a permanent man , and maybe- just maybe- there's something in Jason's theory that being committed means first coming to terms with your past.
Brimming with the warmth, perception and understanding that characterises Anna Maxted's writing, 'Being Committed' mixes heartache with humour and is perhaps her finest novel yet.