40 LOVE (Madeleine Wickham)

I was just thinking that if I had a blog I would write a piece on inappropriate book covers that are obviously geared toward trying to attract readers of a popular genre despite the fact that the novel in question does not fit into that genre.  Then I realized that I DO have a blog!  Hello!  If you have read any of my previous posts you know that this cover manipulation is a sore spot with me, but I guess it's common practice in the publishing industry.

Madeleine Wickham is the actual name of popular chick-lit author Sophie Kinsella.  Kinsella's "Shopaholic' series is hilarious and I have read and enjoyed every one.  As Madeleine Wickham, however, the author's work leans more toward literary fiction, but you'd never know it from this cover, which I cannot seem to successfully attach to this post.  Think Joanna Trollope with an undercurrent of Nancy Thayer.  40 Love is about 3 couples, 2 married and an obnoxious father/daughter duo, who are invited for a weekend of tennis hosted by  Patrick and Caroline at their country home, the White House.  Patrick is a successful investment broker who hopes to cajole his friends into enough new business to earn a 100,000 pound bonus.  His wife Caroline, is a former spokesmodel who is sweet and generous, but slightly too brassy and bright to fit in well with the "old school."  Old friends Stephen and Annie are relatively poor, since Stephen has taken a sabbatical to finish work on his doctorate and they are currently making ends meets with savings and Annie's part-time work.  Their young daughter, Nicola, has suffered a stroke and struggles to keep up with the "normal" kids. Surrounded by his successful friends, Stephen suddenly finds himself feeling financially inferior and, worse, like a failure in life. Charles, who lived with the well-liked, bohemian Ella in his younger days, is now married to heiress Cressida and the father of twins.  His pride in his successful marriage and family life is tested when Cressida receives disturbing news about her inheritance.  Don, an overbearing local would-be hotelier, and his overweight, socially inept but clueless daughter, Valerie, round out the tennis group.  When Ella arrives unexpectedly, at Georgina's invitation, old rivalries and new inadequacies suddenly come front and center and suddenly marriages and friendships are in jeopardy.

If you are a fan of Joanna Trollope, Elizabeth Buchan, and perhaps Anne Tyler, take a deep breath, ignore the cutie in the tennis outfit on the cover, and pick up 40 Love.  I think you'll enjoy it.