A Wedding in the Country by Katie FfordeMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Warning - this book is set in the 1960s.
Lizzie is a sheltered Home Counties middle-class girl who comes to London in 1963 to attend Cookery School in her mother's fervent hopes that she then be able to catch Mr Right (eg a man in a well-paid job). If you have ever seen the start of the film Thoroughly Modern Millie, the start of this book is very similar as Lizzie gets a radical new asymmetric hair cut and dolly bird clothes (strange that Lizzie thinks that being a Dolly Bird is glamorous!). At first Lizzie is living with her aunt Gina in up-market Chelsea but when that falls through she ends up sharing a dilapidated house in Belgravia with two of her class mates, a small dog and an actor.
See the swinging sixties through the eyes of a young woman as she leaves home for the first time. Can she forge a life for herself in London, gasp and get a job, or will her mother get her engaged and married off in no time?
Setting this book in the 1960s works well for Katie Fforde's brand of heroine, because they are always artistic (Lizzie is a genius with a sewing machine and she has a talent for arranging flowers), and slightly innocent, ie married at a young age or only ever had one serious boyfriend, ill-at-ease with men, and this works well in the context of a sheltered girl from the Home Counties being introduced to wicked London. There are dinner parties and country house parties and beatniks and aristocratic gels just doing the Season don't you know!
This was lovely, just what I expect from Kate Fforde and I practically read it in one sitting. Two minor niggles. One is a bit spoilery (view spoiler) and the other is that I'm not sure the title is right. Otherwise, sublime.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.
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