The Wedding Diary by Margaret James

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I’ve read The Silver Locket, which is one of the historicals written by Margaret James. I enjoyed it a lot and learned a fair bit about the war in the process. The Wedding Diary is a bit of a departure as it’s set in contemporary times.  I read it mainly because I was curious to see how a contemporary novel would compare to the historical ones.

Cat works in a reclaimed goods yard. Adam is a builder specialising in restoring old buildings. They meet in the course of work on a day when they’re both smarting from their respective broken hearts. Sounds very chick lit, right? What raises it above the other chick lit books is the dialogue and the genuine warmth of the characters. Adam is just so adorable. You’ve got to love a man who has that many cotton hankies.

There’s a brief nod towards the Denhams – who appear in the historicals – which is a treat for anyone who has read the other books. I thought that was a lovely touch.

The secondary characters are a hoot (although the best friends are quite irritating at times). I loved the bit on the rooftop garden because it was such a brilliant subversion of what you expected to happen and it made me laugh out loud.

All it all, I’m glad Margaret James decided to write a contemporary novel. She’s very good at it.

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