The first few pages of this novel foreshadow the fact that the main character, Alice, eventually comes into her own...but there is no mention of just how looong that process will take. In the meantime, Alice believes herself to be deliriously happy because her schoolgirl crush, Joe, has asked her to marry him. So what if Joe insists upon an elegant, formal wedding rather than the casual country celebration which Alice has always imagined? So what if Joe asks her to lose weight and streak her hair blond? And so what if he has a string of affairs throughout their marriage? Of course, Alice will not acknowledge the latter, either to herself or to others. The reader, however, is treated to the unending details of Joe's various liaisons as well as his repeated lies to Alice.

Five years into their marriage, Joe and Alice move from London to New York to get a "fresh start." It is here, in the small farmhouse they purchase in Connecticut, that Alice finally begins to grow into her own person, although the process is slowed by her continued--if less frequent--appearances as Joe's "society wife" in New York City.

Well, I snapped this up on Saturday, from the OBCZ in Always Sunday while I popped in to rest my feet after tramping round Edinbgurgh for 5 hours visiting both public and hidden (privately owned) gardens on Edinburgh's Open Gardens Day 2007. OK to be honest I was well rested as the crew of garden lovers I was with had had a couple of coffee stops but I so wanted to have a peak at the bookshelf here.

Though this light and in some ways ammusing, though predictable. Of course the outcome is to some extent, as serendipity- says, outlined at the begining of the novel. I was shocked by the way Alice in her deliberations, in the "Will I or won't I pull the rug out from under this marriage," question doesn't seem to consider, not even once, how she was to pay her bills if on her own! How unrealistic is that!

I whizzed through this very quickly so I could take it along to the Edinburgh Bookcrossing Meetup on Wednesday, but if it is not picked up I have another plan for it. Watch this space...

RELEASE NOTES:

planning releasing this at the Edinburgh Bookcrossers Meetup on Wednesday!

I picked this one up at the monthly bookcrosser's meeting. Will release as soon as I've read it...

Oops! I though I had done this already so apologies for the delayed 'catch' journal. I picked this up from the last BookCrossing meeting so I could release it at an event, about which more below...