Book Review / Swimming Pool Sunday by Madeleine Wickham (aka Sophie Kinsella)

 One shimmeringly hot Sunday in May, the Delaneys open their pool to the whole village for charity. Louise is there with her daughters, and while the children splash and shriek in the cool blue waters, she basks in the sunshine, attempting to ignore her estranged husband and dreaming of the new man in her life, a charismatic lawyer. The day seems perfect.

Then a sudden and shocking accident changes everyone's lives forever. Recriminations start to fly. Whose fault was it? Louise's new lover insists that she sues the Delaneys. Her ex-husband isn't so sure. Opinion in the village is split. Old friendships start to crumble. New ones are formed. Will the repercussions from the accident ever end?

Published:     3rd November 1997
Publisher:  Corgi
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Bought

 

MY REVIEW

 

Sophie Kinsella is a firm favourite for me, having loved most of her novels and enjoy both her style of writing and her sense of humour.  I had gone along for many years thinking that I had read most of her novels but then discovered in the past year or two that she had also written some novels, quite some time ago, under a pen name.  I knew that I had to give them a go.

I am not sure why she chose a pen name for this particular novel because it seems similar to her 'main' novels, the only difference I can see is that this has a cast of characters rather than a certain number of them and the sense of humor that I love in her main novels was missing from this. 

I really wanted to like this novel but, honestly, this was an OK story for me.  I enjoyed following the story and seeing what would happen after the accident but I didn't connect with any of the characters, so, honestly, wasn't really bothered one way or another what happened (except for the children, which I did feel sorry for...).   If this novel had a dose of the well known Kinsella sense of humour then maybe I would have enjoyed it more than I did.  

That said, this is not going to stop me from picking up the other novels written under this pen name because I am certainly intrigued to see what I think of them.