Twenties Girl

Sophie Kinsella

Once again Sophie Kinsella gives a great story in the form of chick lit.

Lara Lington's life is crazy at the moment. She doesn't want to go to her Great-Aunt Sadie's funeral ("She lived to 105!"), but finally gives in to her parents. She, her sister, and her parents attend, along with her millionaire uncle, his wife, and daughter. None of them knew Great-Aunt Sadie. Sadie had been in a nursing home since a stroke in the early 1980's. None of them had visited the nursing home more than once or twice.

As the family is getting into a heated discussion about their actions in the middle of the funeral, Lara suddenly hears a screeching voice ask "Where is my necklace?" She tries to ignore it. She can't tell who is yelling that. The voice continues to the point that Lara can't take it any more. That is how she meets Sadie, the 23-year-old ghost of the 105-year-old dead Great-Aunt Sadie.

Lara is having a few life crises. She and her best friend have started a new head-hunting company, then Natalie disappears to India unexpectedly, leaving it all in Lara's untrained lap. She can't let go of her ex-boyfriend Josh, knowing they were perfect together. How can she get him back without turning into a stalker? Now her great-aunt's ghost is haunting her.

Sadie wants Lara to find her favorite necklace that she must have for her final rest. While she's here, she might as well have some fun, too. She wants to go dancing. She wants to go with the perfect man. In order to save her sanity from Sadie's screeching (that's how Sadie gets her way), Lara finds herself in a office in the middle of a meeting of strangers, asking the leader of the meeting out on a date. She finds herself at a fashion show trying to get the necklace off a woman's ankle. Lara even ends up in Charleston lessons to "learn how to dance properly".

Lara learns how to manipulate Sadie, too. She and Sadie discover that Sadie can scream into someone else's ear and they will do what Sadie wants although they don't actually hear her. The two become a reluctant team. Lara tries to find and retrieve the necklace. Sadie helps influence people for Lara's business and Josh for Lara's love life. Can either of them succeed?

Sophie Kinsella is well known for her "chick lit". While her novels are classified that way, they are much more. Twenties Girl has a woman learning to stand up for herself, making her own way, and discovering family. The relationship between Sadie and Lara is well developed - taking them from the original disbelief and antagonism to a warm relationship based on knowledge of each other.

Although Lara is flustered and ready to chuck it at the beginning of the book, with Sadie's help she is able to see what she can do. Kinsella's book is humorous throughout and believable - for a ghost story. The reader can't help but chuckle when Lara is at a large, important business dinner and develops an amazing mind-reading act - with Sadie's help, of course. Lara's self discovery along the way of the journey of this book is well developed.

Twenties Girl is light, easy to read fiction. It's also a good story that pulls the reader in. Enjoy!

Notice:  Strong indecent language (sparingly)