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Lawyer Clare Jacob's debut book sees the protagonist offer a taste of what the last days of a publicly funded bar were like

One day a few years ago, 'was converted s Inn, a Wetherspoon ", and Great Britain' as Lincoln \ s pub s is more expensive two-tier legal system, a quaintly distant memory, could the people read lawyer Clare Jacob ' s debut novel, Ophelia in Pieces to find out what is in the final days of the publicly funded bar were like.

Those who do will learn how criminal barristers desperately tried to cling on to their old vestiges of status – renting expensive buildings in the inns of court, employing "clerks" who they insisted address them as "Sir" or "Miss", sending their children to private schools – despite a dramatic squeeze in their legal aid-derived income leaving many almost completely broke. As they follow the travails of Jacob's criminal barrister heroine, Ophelia, they'll get a sense of how hard a task this was.

Most of the poor Ophelia 's problems run on money. Her limp husband, Patrick, has an affair, because they work so much and he feels neglected. She is so much work, of course, an order for the dwindling legal aid fees. And by continuing to work to set-up so much from Patrick - who was in retrospect very useful for the care of children - they can easily monitor young son, Alex, go off the rails.

No wonder that Ophelia takes a liking to the idea of ??bagging a rich man, an option they explored an unprofessional Flirt with charming but amoral banker Matthew Mars, whose wealth of information on the tantalizing prospect of no longer worry about how the next rate of pay Alex 's school fees.

As you would expect from an account of a profession famed for its highs and lows, these Bridget Jones-style mishaps are balanced out with plenty of glorious moments. One comes soon after the cross-examination disaster, as Ophelia, with nothing to lose, suddenly finds herself in the zone: "Her words came in regular cadences, almost in iambic pentameter, and her thoughts followed so swiftly after one another that she almost put aside her prepared speech."