Show 14: the original Shopaholic on the pitfalls of having a perfect life...
Sophie Kinsella, writer and financial journalist, was born in London in 1969. She studied music at New College, Oxford but after a year switched to politics, philosophy and economics, gaining a first after only two years of studying. She worked as a teacher and as a financial journalist. Married to a former opera singer she has accompanied her husband professionally on the piano in concert tours of the Middle East and Africa. She lives in London with her husband Henry and 3 sons , along with her shoes and a vast array of shopping bags.
Sophie reached the top of the bestseller lists in September 2000 when her novel “The Secret Dreamworld of A Shopaholic” was published by Black Swan. The book’s heroine Becky Bloomwood – a fun and feisty financial journalist who loves shopping but is hopeless with money – captured the hearts of readers worldwide and she has since gone onto further adventures in “Shopaholic Abroad”, “Shopaholic Ties the Knot”, “Shopaholic & Sister” and “Shopaholic and Baby” the titles have sold over 2 million copies to date. Sophie’s two stand alone novels, “Can you Keep A Secret” and the “Undomestic Goddess “ were both number one bestsellers .She also currently holds the record as the fastest selling women’s fiction hardback author of all time.
Sophie wrote her first novel under her real name, Madeleine Wickham, at the age of 24 , whilst she was working as a financial journalist .“The Tennis Party” was immediately hailed as a success by critics and the public alike and became a top 10 bestseller. She published 6 more novels as Madeleine Wickham.
She submitted her first “Sophie Kinsella” novel anonymously to Black Swan who were already her publishers and it was snapped up without her editors knowing that she was already one of their authors. It was the appropriately titled “Can you Keep A Secret ?” that she revealed her true identity for the first time.
Remember Me?
What if you woke up and your life was perfect? Lexi Smart is a 25 year old Associate Junior Sales Manager in Flooring at Deller Carpets. Her nickname is “Snaggletooth” and her boyfriend Dave is frankly a loser. She’s just missed out on her bonus at work , it’s her dad’s funeral tomorrow morning and she’s had one too many banana cocktails. All in all Lexi thinks life is pretty crappy and she knows she’s going to wake up tomorrow with a hell of a hangover.
When she does wake up, it’s in hospital three years later and she’s landed what seems like the perfect life. She is a successful business woman, head of her department and married to a millionaire…and now has straight teeth. She has a Luis Vuitton handbag, a Mercedes Benz and a whole room full of clothes. She also has retrograde amnesia. She doesn’t even recognise herself in the mirror and her old friends aren’t talking to her any more.
Why? How did she land her dream life and is all as perfect as it seems? As she recovers she must try to figure out why her friends aren’t talking to her; she needs to get to know the man she married (though the handy marriage manual he has made for her); find out what a Mont Blanc is; try to understand why her mother is behaving so weirdly; deal with her husband’s scruffy colleague who seems to think they’re lovers, and find out what really happened at her Dad’s funeral. Will she ever remember? And what will happen if she does?
