Buxton, Jayne

PERSONAL: Married; children: three.

ADDRESSES: Office—Flametree, Plumtree Court, London EC4A 4HT, England. Agent—Christy Fletcher, Fletcher & Parry, The Carriage House, 121 E. 17th St., New York, NY 10003.

CAREER: Flametree, London, England, cofounder and codirector; writer. Contributor to seminars, radio, and television discussions on the issues facing working parents. Consultant on work-life issues to private corporations.

MEMBER: National Work-Life Forum (United Kingdom).

WRITINGS:

Ending the Mother War: Starting the Workplace Revolution (nonfiction), Macmillan (London, England) 1998.

Lessons in Duck Hunting: A Novel, Ballantine Books, 2006, also published as Lessons in Duck Shooting: A Novel, Arrow, 2006.

SIDELIGHTS: Jayne Buxton is well known in the United Kingdom for her work as a consultant on work-life issues. After publishing Ending the Mother War: Starting the Workplace Revolution in 1998, Buxton became sought after as an expert on improving the balance between workplace demands and family life for all parents. With Rosemary Leith, Buxton founded Flametree, a partnership that works with corporations to implement policies that are more perceptive to the needs of working parents.

Buxton's professional concerns play a small part in her debut novel, Lessons in Duck Hunting. The romantic comedy centers on a divorced mother of two children, Ally, who has taken a dull job in order to spend more time at home. At the prodding of a friend who needs an undercover observer for a piece in a women's magazine, Ally signs up for a new dating service. A Publishers Weekly contributor described Lessons in Duck Hunting as "intelligent chick lit with a literary audience in mind." In addition, a Kirkus Reviews critic found the book "amiable—with some useful advice for meeting men."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Kirkus Reviews, October 15, 2005, review of Lessons in Duck Hunting: A Novel, p. 1097.

Publishers Weekly, October 31, 2005, review of Lessons in Duck Hunting, p. 31.

ONLINE

Flametree Web site, http://www.flametree.co.uk (December 9, 2005)