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The Control Freak Chronicles
The Control Freak Chronicles
Jul 17, 2025 3:07 AM

Author:Sarah Tucker

The Control Freak Chronicles

At forty-four, Helena Treadwell thought she had everything sorted. After divorcing her control freak ex, Leonard Wallis, she and her nine-year-old son, Freddie, relocated to her home town of Castleford. She's made a happy home for them and has a successful career as a radio presenter. Finally she feels she's clawing back the control and confidence she lost to Leonard. But life is never simple for long ...

Helena unexpectedly loses her job and Leonard announces that not only does he want Freddie to attend a private boarding school, he's also decided to move to Castleford to set up home with 'the other woman'. Suddenly Helena's losing control again, as her past comes back to unravel her future.

Reviews

Scandal, backstabbing, illicit affairs ... a fab, girlie read!

—— New Woman

Mums will be able to see the truth behind this fun novel

—— In The Know

A real laugh-out-loud tale

—— OK! Magazine

Fab and funny'

—— Closer

An excellent read

—— Professor Edward de Bono

Hannan mixes Mark Twain's yarn capacity with the primal qualities of Cormac McCarthy and Flannery O'Connor

—— Big Issue

Chris Hannan deftly mixes adventure and redemption with the gritty reality of the frontier and flips Wild West assumptions on their behind. Recommended

—— Ladies First

Stands with the best of contemporary historical fiction...you can practically taste the rotgut and feel the sawdust under your boots. Missy is a spectacular debut: the West has never been this wild.

—— http://maxdunbar.wordpress.com

Treating ourselves to sex, drugs and murder as we hang the do-not-disturb sign on the door and settle down on the comfiest sofa with playwright Chris Hanna's debut 'Missy' (due out in pb from Vintage). Who knew the Wild West could be so much fun?

—— This Week We’re… , Herald Magazine

Taut and credible [dialogue]...I have sat on the judging panels of two novel prizes, and I have to say that this book is far better written than many of the efforts I had to wade through. I would like to congratulate the author on a fine piece of work, and look forward to reading his next offering.

—— Guy Fraser-Sampson , www.pursewarden.blogspot.com

Sex, drugs and barroom brawls - only an ungrateful reader could want more.' Or 'Missy is a ripsnorting, bawdy success with a wonderfully sympathetic heroine who is a winning mix of worldliness and self-delusion.

—— Colin Waters , The Sunday Herald

Narrated by a classic and irrepressible anti-heroine, Missy is an enjoyable romp through the real Old West...a very impressive debut novel

—— Simon Appleby , www.bookgeeks.co.uk

Dol is never less than convincing as a character, and has deservedly drawn comparisons with literary predecessors such as Thackeray's Becky Sharp and Defoe's Moll Flanders. Hannan's great skill is to make her both difficult and likeable, and the reader will devour this book in a matter of hours simply to find out what befalls her

—— www.suite101.com

Strong and memorable female characters throughout this enjoyable novel

—— http://meandmybigmouth.typepad.com/scottpack/

Described as 'Deadwood meets Moll Flanders', Hannan's story is told by the vivacious, smart, streetwise Dol McQueen'.Another wonderful debut novel...I can't recommend this book highly enough, or Hannan's earthy, vital creation

—— Lesley McDowell , The Herald

Bodice-ripping romp through the West

—— Times

Missy by Strong and memorable female characters throughout this enjoyable novel

—— http://meandmybigmouth.typepad.com/scottpack

Witty and effortlessly fluid. His books are laugh-out-loud funny

—— Arabella Weir

The funniest writer ever to put words to paper

—— Hugh Laurie

The greatest comic writer ever

—— Douglas Adams

P.G. Wodehouse wrote the best English comic novels of the century

—— Sebastian Faulks

Sublime comic genius

—— Ben Elton
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