A Vintage Affair

by Isabel Wolff

The enchanting new novel from the bestselling author of A Question of Love and Rescuing Rose Phoebe adores clothes that have a rich personal history and runs her own vintage dress shop in a small London community that attracts an eclectic mix of customers. At the age of thirty-six and without any children, Phoebe is feeling the growing pangs of loneliness. Her parents have divorced, leaving her mother suddenly obsessed with preserving her youth through cosmetic surgery, and her father marrying a woman even younger than Phoebe. True, everlasting love it seems, is hard to find. Then one day, a beautiful elderly woman comes into the shop clutching a breathtaking but unworn dress. As Phoebe begins to befriend the woman, she unravels the mystery of the dress and along the way, discovers some home truths of her own!

• ISBN10: 0007245831
• ISBN13: 9780007245833
• Publish Date: 1 March 2009 (first published 19 January 2009)
• Publish Status: Cancelled
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
• Format: Paperback (UK Trade)
• Language: English

Reviews

[Eve1972]

I enjoyed this one a lot! The authors weaves a delightfully charming story that pulls at your heart strings and made me want to open my own vintage clothing store! LOL Just a really great read. :)

[Leah]

A Vintage Affair is a wonderfully written novel. I really didn’t want the book to end. Hearing Phoebe’s and Mrs. Bell’s story was sad but also very enjoyable. Their stories were eerily similar in the reasons why both felt so guilty. Isabel always managers to create such interesting back stories for her characters and both Phoebe’s and Therese’s were well crafted. Therese’s in particular must have taken a lot of research because it was very well explained.

I thought Phoebe was a brilliant character and I could feel her guilt about Emma and felt so sad for her. I also completely understood why she blamed Guy even though the truth does come out in the end regarding that night.

Therese was a very interesting character and I found she and Phoebe got along really well together. Their relationship was so easy going even though they hardly knew each other. We learn of Therese’s story really early on – it wasn’t dragged out at all. It was such an interesting and sad story, too. I felt so sorry for Therese that even after all of these years she still couldn’t forgive herself.

Of the minor characters I really liked Dan. I felt he got along better with Phoebe than Miles did. I was surprised to learn he was colour-blind, it was an interesting addition to his eccentric character. As I said, I don’t think Miles and Phoebe really got on all that well and I just couldn’t warm to Miles. He completely spoilt his daughter, Roxy, and I found her just as irritating. Roxy came across incredibly selfish and her behaviour was horrible.

I really liked Annie, Phoebe’s part-time helper in the shop. I liked her enthusiasm for the vintage clothes Phoebe sold. I found Phoebe’s mum hilarious with her constant wanting of facials and facelifts and all kind of treatments! I loved the story of the cupcake dresses and how each of the girls managed to acquire them. Katie was probably my favourite of the 4 – so different to the spoilt Roxy, she earned the right to buy her dress rather than being able to get her daddy to get it for her!

A Vintage Affair is probably one of my favourite books of the year. It was throughly enjoyable and is just as good as the other Isabel Wolff books I’ve read. Her writing just gets better & better!

Rating: 5/5