A Desirable Residence By Madeleine Wickham

                                         

Title: A Desirable Residence

Author: Madeleine Wickham (also known as Sophie Kinsella)

Published Date: First published in 1996 & published by Black Swan in November 2004

Format: Paperback

Genre: Fiction

Sneak into this book:

Liz and Jonathan were stuck with 2 mortgage loans & were struggling to sell their old house in order to settle one of the loans. Marcus came into their lives offering a solution by promising a tenant who would rent their house, husband and wife Piers & Ginny. In the middle of the arrangement, Liz & Marcus were accidentally lost in an affairs & Jonathan was left alone to struggle and keep their financial save. Both of them didn't notice that they had abandoned their one and only daughter, a 14 year old Alice. On the other hand, a lonely Alice was developing a passion towards the new tenant & was entangled with their lives. Everyone was preoccupied with everyone else until they begin to realise the whole situations were a mess & were trying to keep it back on track once again.... -Read more to know the ending.

First of all, it was my first time reading her writing using her original name, 'Madeleine Wickham'. Before it, I collected Sophie Kinsella's only & never came across her originals.

I was not surprised when it turns out to be as good as Sophie Kinsella's but I never expected to find a different way of writing. As Sophie Kinsella, her books are more like those silly yet funny and enjoyable reads. As Madeleine Wickham, I find it more serious and detailed but enjoyable still. After all, she is one of the best-selling authors in 'New York Times', so I never doubt her productions. Again, she delivers a very good story and ending in 'A Desirable Residence'. The only thing I don't like is that she portrays most of the characters with low attitudes and morals, but in a way, I suppose that is positive for her, as it shows how good she is in making such impact to her audience in order to deliver the actual purpose of the story.

So here are my personal opinions on this story:

- I hate Liz's character. She is dishonest to her husband and child & always get away with all the bad things she did. At one point, she even plans to leave her husband & assume that Marcus will want to end their flings and marry her. She is disloyal to such a very kind husband and at the end she is still with her husband. He really does not deserves her at all.

- I like Alice, my heart goes for her when she seems to be abandoned by her parents who are so busy keeping their lives together. The way she brings her life everyday just to find peace and happiness in the little garage of her old house, really makes me feel sad & mad at her parents especially her mom who is so busy screwing Marcus. But I REALLY hate the fact that she has Liz's bad habit of being dishonest & disloyal by secretly having crush on Piers despite what Ginny have given to her.

- I love Jonathan's character. He is the kind of husband most women dreams of. He is loyal, committed, considerable & so much more. He still works very hard even when he knows their real financial situations. Towards the end of the story he tells Alice not to spill anything as it is best to keep some secrets to ourselves & let the situation sorts itself out. I personally think he knew what kind of 'horrible' thing Alice is going to tell him but he just doesn't want to know and doesn't want to ruin everything that is why he let Alice keep the secret of her mom's cheating episodes. Again, Liz got away with it.

- I understand Anthea's character, she is the kind of mom who would give anything just to see her children's success. She might be a bit hard to her children but she means well & I don't agree that she deserves to be treated the way she is by her husband. I think eventually Marcus realised how great his wife is and he saves their marriage & ends the affairs between him & Liz, but that doesn't mean I like Marcus, he is still a cheater and that is unacceptable.

So all in all, I give 5 stars/5!! :-) Enjoy!