The Wedding Girl – Madeleine Wickham
The Wedding Girl is one of the newest books by Madeleine Wickham (aka Sophia Kinsella). While I wasn’t keen on all of Sophia’s books, this one was a very fast read and very enjoyable.
It starts off 10 years ago with Milly meeting some men while she attended secretarial school. They were involved with each other but Allan was here on a visa and wanted to stay. So he asked Milly to marry him, on paper, so that he could stay in the country with Rupert, his love. Being 18, she didn’t realize what she was doing and married him so he could stay in the country.
Fast forward 10 years later and Milly is engaged to Simon, the son of a millionaire, and her mother is planning the most lavious wedding one could imagine. Olivia (the mother) is so wrapped up in the wedding that she doesn’t see her own marriage falling apart.
There is also Isobel, Milly’s sister who is pregnant, and the father is quite a surprise. James, Milly’s father, who is in danger of losing his job and his wife.
All is going well with the wedding plans and then the minister asks Milly and Simon if they have ever been married before and while they both say no, it starts bringing up memories for Milly of those days with Allan and Rupert at Oxford.
What ensues is a comedy of errors while Milly tries to figure out if she is still married to Allan or not without tipping off Simon. However, throw Alexander in the midst and things really get confusing. He happened to be at the registrar when Milly was married the first time and he has been hired to photograph the wedding. Will he spill the beans?
This is a good story and a quick read. I think I finished it within a few hours.