(Contributed Photo)
Have you ever felt like you were born in the wrong decade? You find you have old-fashioned opinions, research the time in which you should have been born and sigh over the costumes in movies from that time.
No, of course I don’t do this.
Lara Lighton, the principle character in the novel ‘Twenties Girl,’ doesn’t subscribe to this either. Yet in Sophie Kinsella’s hilarious latest book, Lara finds herself engaged in such behavior and many other crazy escapades — all to appease the ghost of her 105-year-old great-aunt.
A haunting is certainly the last thing Lara needs. With her best friend and business partner gallivanting off to god-knows-where and leaving Lara to salvage their floundering company on her own, Lara really can’t handle the supernatural intrusion. Not to mention she is also teetering on the precipice of financial ruin and heartbreak. Great-aunt Sadie, who reached her prime in the Roaring Twenties but recently passed away in a nursing home, has plans for her grandniece. Estranged from each other in life, Sadie insists in death that she will pester Lara for the rest of her days unless the two of them can locate her dragonfly necklace.
And so the unlikely duo sets out on an epic quest to locate the necklace and thus, let Sadie’s soul rest in peace. Along the way, they naturally have many a verbal battle, learn each other’s deep, dark secrets and work on Lara’s love life. Though they profess to loathe each other throughout most of the novel, by the conclusion they realize how close they have actually become. Lara also comes to value Sadie’s life and decade, and eventually gives her aunt’s plight and mission her full attention.
As is typical of all Kinsella novels, the protagonist is an opinionated female in her twenties who is, regrettably, a tad immature. This initially turned me off to her popular Shopaholic series. It felt like I was inside the mind of a middle school girl rather than someone who had already completed college.
Lara in ‘Twenties Girl’ still fits this prototype, but is more sophisticated. She has a more extensive vocabulary, and though she does do some wild things, she is not as annoying as other Kinsella characters.
The mixture of the early twentieth century with contemporary culture adds much more flavor to the story. Rather than just taking the reader through the life and trials of a modern woman as so many trashy books these days do, this novel interlaces history with modernity, giving the book much more richness and depth.
The recent paperback release justifies shelling out the twenty dollars on the novel. ‘Twenties Girl’ makes for a fun-filled, quick read that would be a perfect Easter break activity.
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