Good Man Hunting

A funny, honest and revealing account of a thirty-something woman who has it all - except a good man to spend the rest of her life with . . .

'I designed my first wedding when I was seven. Barbie, swathed in baby pink tulle with camelia petals on her head, was propped up on a matchbox carriage pulled by a white horse from Barbie Dressage with my brother's pirate doll in shiny black knickerbockers. Pirate Pete was just a prop to give the scene validity. I really could have done without him so long as I got to one day wear a dress like Barbie's. But something shifts when a girl turns thirty and suddenly Pirate Pete becomes very much a part of the picture . . . '

Jacinta Tynan appears to have it all: she's 32, gorgeous and has a fantastic job as a newsreader for the ABC's satellite service. There's just one thing missing: 'Pirate Pete'. So now she is 'auditioning husbands'. In 'Good man Hunting', Jacinta chronicles her search for a man to live the rest of her life with, and her friends' search as well. Jacinta weaves a story that covers speed dating, 'premature declarators' (men who tell you they love you on the second date, then change their mind), getting over a breakup, chemistry, waxing (the Brazilian is in if you're on the market), married men, 'fishing off the company pier' (and the risks involved), older men, sex with an ex, the one-night stand, living alone and the well tested theory that 'Men are from Melbourne, Women are from Sydney' (which makes it hard if you're a Sydney girl). Her mother's advice to go out with any man, 'so long as he doesn't have two heads', doesn't help.

It's well-covered territory but Jacinta brings a seriousness and a very original voice to the debate, and keeps us entertained till the end. Written in short snappy chapters, 'Good man Hunting' is sometimes funny, often quite serious, but always honest, revealing and utterly compelling. As Jacinta says: 'Dating is different to Going Out. With boyfriends, you meet and you just know and you fall into a relationship. Dating is short shifts, trial and error, dumping and getting dumped . . . But I must do it - the dating thing - if I want the Ultimate Outcome. We all must. And so we enter the quagmire of finding a man at an age where, apparently, the odds just got a whole lot less . . .

The thing is, for the first time in our lives we actually need men. Beyond love and intimacy, they are a vital ingredient for the family unit we suddenly crave. 'Good Man Hunting' does have a happy ending: Jacinta finds the man of her dreams (an 'older man', it turns out) - in Melbourne!