Simply Charming!
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This is one of the best 'Girly reads' I've read in a long time. Very different, and very well writen.
Set in 1954 with teenager Penelope meeting Charlotte at a bus stop. They share a taxi and this is where their friendship starts and continues to grow.
Penelope lives at Magna, a grand home, with her Mother and Brother, Inigo, who's a Rock 'n' Roll fanatic.
Charlotte lives in London with her Aunt Clare and Cousin Harry.
Between grand parties & going to see Johnnie Ray, Penelope falls in love, out of love and is trying to save her home from ruin.
This book made me laugh, cry and everything in between.
Wonderfully written, i found this book so hard to put down. I really didn't want it to end!
I would recommend this book, and for any age.
I've read this 3 times and love it more every time i read it.
Simply Charming!
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Refreshingly different..
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I read a lot of modern fiction aimed at women, (i.e. chic-lit, usually of the intellectual vacuum variety!). This was different and broke the mould. Stick with it, and you will be rewarded. Engaging characters, no reliance on hackneyed stereotypes - as is so often the case. The writer's perspective on somewhat traditional English life was really unique. Really imaginative and a rewarding read. I flew through it and was genuinely sad when I'd finished it and no longer had the pleasure of reading it.
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great read
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This novel has engaging and fun characters, (especially Inigo). The main plot, the developing relationship between Penelope and Harry, is intriguing and though predictable, keeps you reading right to the end. i would recommend it for an enjoyable, light read.
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Lovely, just lovely
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This sort of book is not usually on my reading itinerary, but it was one of my impulse buys and I'm so glad I picked it up. I echo earlier reviewers' comments on how charming it is, and I loved the 'feel' of the 1950s which are evoked in such a realistic way - I can tell that Eva loved reading that stash of 1950s magazines she borrowed and she passed that love of the era on to the reader of this book. I found that when I finished it, the characters lived on in my imagination and I wished I could read more about them - maybe a sequel, Eva?
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good story, bad editing
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I really enjoyed this, but agree with earlier comments that a certain laziness on the part of both author and publisher - letting through so many inconsistencies and anachronisms - was annoying and distracting.
It's feeble enough that the author didn't bother to Google 'After Eight Mints' (before sitting her heroine down to a box of them in 1955) and see that they weren't invented until 1962, but that an editor didn't do - or get some minion to do - a factcheck on things like that is sloppy beyond belief.
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