Sophie Kinsella on Wedding Night: What if someone deliberately sabotaged your honeymoon?
The queen of Chick Lit explains the motivation behind her latest novel
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Your support makes all the difference.English author Sophie Kinsella, 43, is best known for her Shopaholic novels. Born Madeleine Wickham, the writer adopted a pen name made up of her middle name and mother's maiden name, and wrote her first book at the age of 24. She lives in London with her husband and five children.
Her latest book,Wedding Night, is out now:
What’s your new book about?
My new book is a comedy about two sisters. Lottie is the more starry-eyed and romantic sister, and at the beginning of the book she breaks up with Richard - the man she thought was The One. She’s so devastated that she rushes into marriage on the rebound with her old teenage boyfriend, Ben, and they jet off on a romantic, Greek island honeymoon. Lottie's older sister Fliss is far more practical, and is appalled when she hears the news. She thinks Lottie has made a terrible mistake and decides the only possible solution is to secretly derail her honeymoon and stop Lottie from having her wedding night.
What inspired it?
My initial inspiration was the idea of a honeymoon going wrong and the comedic potential that might have. Then I got the idea, 'what if someone was deliberately sabotaging the honeymoon - for the best possible reasons?' Another theme is the sister relationship and when being a fiercely protective older sister goes too far. Another is first love and what happens when you reunite with your first, teenage lover. I think a lot of people still fantasise about that first love and what might happen if they rekindled the relationship.
Who are your characters?
The main characters are the two sisters Lottie and Fliss. Lottie is the younger, more romantic and impulsive sister. Fliss is more jaded and cynical. She's experienced marriage, parenthood and divorce and she sees the world through very different eyes. Then there are the men: Ben is the charming guy that Lottie hooks up with again after fifteen years. Lorcan is his best man - a more intense and serious-minded man who thinks the marriage is a terrible idea, too. And there's Richard, who fails to propose to Lottie in chapter one and spends the rest of the book making up for it. I must also mention Fliss's little boy, Noah, who sees the world with the clear-eyed view only a child can have.
Where did you write it?
I wrote it at home or in coffee shops. I'm a great fan of taking my laptop out and about.
Was it written by hand or computer?
I planned it by hand but did the actual writing on computer.
How long did it take to complete?
It was about six months of writing, but I'd been planning it for a while before that.
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