jill adams (United Kingdom) (2006/08/11):
If you don't know, Madeleine Wickham is the real name for Sophie Kinsella (pen name). Yeap, the one who wrote the highly successful Shopaholic series. Under her real name of Madeleine Wickham, she wrote several books which have more substance than the frothy ones under Sophie Kinsella. That's why she used a pen name to keep her styles of writing apart.The Wedding Girl is one such book with much meaty substance. She must have germinated her ideas for "Can you Keep A Secret?" which she wrote later under Sophie Kinsella from this earlier book, The Wedding Girl. Are secrets better left unearthed or are they better off exposed to those that concern you? How would it affect relationships that have formed preconceived set values and change the dynamics? Will it be the same? That is the recurring fear harboured by Milly Havill who got married for a frivolous reason 10 years ago and now has to un-do that marriage in order to marry the person she truly loves. Familiarity breeds contempt within the family. This is the ongoing theme in the book, you think you know someone too well and you begin to perform selective memory. You only bring up characteristics that you dislike about them which becomes all too consuming for you and bury their good points fathoms deep. That is until someone from outside your immediate family brings to you a new perspective on their characters. The author deftly handles the multitude of secrets harboured by several characters. The secrets harboured here are definitely more grounded in reality than those in "Can You Keep A Secret?".
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