Twenties Girl: A Novel |  | Author: Sophie Kinsella
Publisher: The Dial Press
List Price: $26.00
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as of 11/24/2009 00:53 CST details
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Seller: mckenziebooks
Rating:  119 reviews
Sales Rank: 1645
Media: Hardcover
Edition: First Edition first Printing
Pages: 448
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 8.6 x 5.9 x 1.4
ISBN: 0385342020
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780385342025
ASIN: 0385342020
Publication Date: July 21, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
Amazon Exclusive: Sophie Kinsella on Twenties Girl
Sophie Kinsella is a former financial journalist and the author of the best-selling novels Confessions of a Shopaholic, Shopaholic Takes Manhattan, Shopaholic Ties the Knot, Shopaholic & Sister, Shopaholic & Baby, Can You Keep a Secret?, The Undomestic Goddess, and Remember Me?. She lives in England, where she is at work on her next book.
 Writing Twenties Girl was like going on my own magical mystery tour. My U.S. editor Susan Kamil had once said casually, "You should write a ghost story one day." This comment stayed with me for years. I loved the idea, but didn't know who my ghost could be. I've always loved the glamour and spirit of the 1920s, and the idea came to me of a flapper ghost. A feisty, fun, glamorous girl who adored to dance and drink cocktails and get her own way. I wanted her to be a determined character who would blast into the life of someone with no warning and cause havoc. I then decided she should haunt a thoroughly modern girl, with all the culture clashes and comedy that would bring.
Having come up with this idea I loved it, so it then remained to plunge myself into 1920s research, which was no hardship at all, as I find the era fascinating. I researched vintage make-up, vintage dresses, read fiction from the period, investigated 1920s slang, and tried to channel as much I could of those feisty flappers who cut their hair short (shock!), smoked cigarettes in public (shock!), had sex (shock!) and generally rebelled in all the outrageous ways they could. The book isn't a period piece though. It's a modern story about two girls and their sparky friendship, right here in the 21st century. One of them just happens to be a ghost from the 1920s. It's a quest, a romance, and a coming of age... and above all a comedy. It's no exaggeration to say that writing the character of Sadie made me look at life differently, and I hope some readers feel the same way. —Sophie Kinsella
Product Description
Lara Lington has always had an overactive imagination, but suddenly that imagination seems to be in overdrive. Normal professional twenty-something young women don’t get visited by ghosts. Or do they?
When the spirit of Lara’s great-aunt Sadie–a feisty, demanding girl with firm ideas about fashion, love, and the right way to dance–mysteriously appears, she has one last request: Lara must find a missing necklace that had been in Sadie’s possession for more than seventy-five years, and Sadie cannot rest without it. Lara, on the other hand, has a number of ongoing distractions. Her best friend and business partner has run off to Goa, her start-up company is floundering, and she’s just been dumped by the “perfect” man.
Sadie, however, could care less.
Lara and Sadie make a hilarious sparring duo, and at first it seems as though they have nothing in common. But as the mission to find Sadie’s necklace leads to intrigue and a new romance for Lara, these very different “twenties” girls learn some surprising truths from each other along the way. Written with all the irrepressible charm and humor that have made Sophie Kinsella’s books beloved by millions, Twenties Girl is also a deeply moving testament to the transcendent bonds of friendship and family.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 119
 I want to be a twenties girl :) November 18, 2009
Kaybee (Houston, TX)
This book was very similar but also very different from Kinsella's other books. The similarities were that the heroine was very much like the heroines in her all of her other books: job trouble, boyfriend problems, lying to parents and friends because they are in denial......sound familiar? Lara Lington's great aunt Sadie has just passed away at 105 years old. Nobody visited Sadie, nobody even really knew her. She didn't really have family of her own. Sadie, however, does not exactly "pass away". She is very much "alive" as a 23 year old ghost that only Lara can see. She cannot "die" until she gets her necklace back, which she seems to have misplaced. Since Lara is the only one that can see/hear her, she must help her.
This is a great story of friendship, love, and family. I enjoyed the twenties spin on it very much. I enjoyed this novel, as I do all of Kinsella's novels. The only problem I have is I always get very annoyed with the main character throughout most of the book, until the ending when they suddenly change for the better... but her books are always a pick me up
 Where was the editor? November 11, 2009
RevReader (San Francisco Bay Area)
This is an open letter to Dial Books: I have enjoyed Sophie Kinsella's novels as light entertainment, but I am dismayed that you have published Twenties Girl without benefit of a good editor. Nothing discredits good writing more than careless over-repetition of a word or phrase ("rictus smile," "wrong-footed," "insouciant"). Similarly, I was bewildered by Ed's jarringly frequent use of the f-word; in the light-hearted genre of chick-lit, a little casual profanity goes a long way. Lara's character was formulaic -- well-intentioned and sincere but naive and, like Becky, inclined to lie her way out of tight spots -- and that is how Kinsella (and Dial Books) sells books. But Kinsella needs a more economical approach to word count: she introduces more characters and plot elements than she eventually develops, hence we are left wondering how Natalie could ever have been a friend and whatever happened to the lost sketch studies. (Under my pen, Lara's parents would have given her Sadie's desk in gratitude for all her sleuth-work, Lara would have given the desk pride of place in her new office and, upon opening a secret drawer, would have discovered the lost sketches.) Finally, cremating the treasured necklace was an unsatisfying and bizarre conclusion for a prop that had further plot potential; with very little re-writing, Kinsella could have given the necklace a more triumphant ending, perhaps as Sadie's loving gift to Lara, or as Lara's gift to the gallery to be displayed next to the portrait. A good editor would have recognized all these little weaknesses and could have intercepted. As it is, the book reads more like a first draft than a finished product. Has Kinsella reached such a position of power over her publisher that she can refuse an edit? If so, she is foolish.
 Reviews from Brizmus Blogs Books November 10, 2009
A. Baker (Paris, France)
Go Sophie Kinsella for writing a ghost story! And for doing it oh so well. Frankly, I am ridiculously impressed. I feel like so many authors lately are trying to do the supernatural thing, and don't get me wrong, I LOVE it. I am a total supernatural fan. But I feel like it's really hard to write a book about something supernatural and have it accesible to everyone (not boys in this case, but you know what I mean), even those totally not into supernatural things. Sophie Kinsella has not just succeeded, she has mastered the art. "Twenties Girl" is fun and quirky, and every twenty something has been there and done that, minus the ghost.
Reading this book was so much fun that I just KNOW Sophie Kinsella had a rockin'time researching and writing this book.
An easy breezy totally necessary read!
Great Book! November 5, 2009
L. Moon (Texas)
Great book, couldn't put it down! Sophie Kinsella never disappoints. Can't wait to read her next novel!!!
cute and entertaining although predictable November 4, 2009
i did enjoy this book - it was a quick and entertaining read. i did find it to be somewhat predictable and similar to her other book(s) but because the story was fun, it didn't bother me too much.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 119
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