Customer Reviews

The Gatecrasher

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I love this author - no matter what name she goes by (Sophie Kinsella or Madeline Wickham)!
This book is one of my favourites! Much better than the Shopaholic series in my opinion (I find Becky really annoying). The plot line is really original and really fun. I also love "40 Love". If you like "The Gatecrasher" you will like/love "40 Love" too!

A glamorous fortysomething woman with the improbable name of Fleur Daxeny is a gatecrasher -- she attends the funerals and memorial services in search of potentially wealthy widowers, claiming to be a friend of the late wife. She then makes the man fall in love with her and takes just enough money so he is humiliated but can recoup his loss without charging her as a criminal. By that time, she's long gone.

Fleur meets Richard Favour this way, but she actually starts to fall in love. Richard, in turn, starts to love Fleur as does his entire extended family. In light of Fleur and her teenaged daughter Zara (who is upset with her mother's con-artist ways), the family starts to let Richard know that Emily, his late wife, was never really all that perfect.

The storyline I liked most was that of Philippa, Richard's adult daughter, and her mercenary nasty husband, Lambert. It turns out Emily had a hand in her daughter's low self-esteem and subsequent acceptance of Lambert's proposal years ago.

There are no real good guys or villains in this, and you are left a bit dissatisfied at all the loose ends, but it is still a compelling tale.

Fleur Daxeny is a funeral crasher - she's a con artist who preys on recent wealthy widowers and makes off with some of their money. Her most recent victim is Richard Favour whose wife Emily has just died. However, what she doesn't count on is that Richard and his family may change her just as much as she changes them.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and the just over 300 pages seemed to turn themselves. While I felt that Fleur's past was perhaps a little glossed over and could have been brought out more and that there was some foreshadowing that's denouement fell a bit flat, I felt that overall this was a great read. I will definitely be reading more of Ms. Wickham's work!

I was disappointed by this book, especially with knowing that Madeline Wickham is Sophie Kinsella. Possibly just having read Twenties Girl, which I absolutely loved, didn't help matters, but The Gatecrasher just didn't live up to my expectations. This is chick lit with multiple characters from their different points of view and has none of the humour I have come to expect from great chick lit.

It started well enough. The premise was interesting and I had no complaints about the writing style or that it was different points of view (which she did brilliantly). But I found that as I was getting to know the characters, I just wasn't really interested. I didn't find much emotion, the characters seemed two dimensional to me and the plot wasn't terribly interesting. I feel like I'll forget most of this one. I didn't hate it, but definitely didn't love it.

I'm looking forward to reading another Madeline Wickham novel soon to see if it was just this book that I'm disappointed in.

Ok book. Took me a bit to get into it. I bought this for a $5.00 bargain buy at chapters. Kinsella other name she writes under is this,(Madeleine WIckham) for those of you who didn't know. I like her kinsella books better (Shopoholic Series, Remember Me) Those are more funny, these Madeleine Wickham books are more serious based, but they are still good :)

I am not a big fan of chic-lit, for a change I look for lighter read.
this book's idea interested me so I gave it a try.
I couldn't put it down, it is pretty fun to read and don't have to worry too much thinking.
It's funny, it's human, and I can see this become a movie. One thing disappointed me was
the ending. It just suddenly cut off? The way everything lay out, I was waiting for a twist or
a more detail ending but it was end and make you sort of guess what is really going to happen in the long term.
But overall, it is really worth it. I like it. I have read many other chic-lit books also but often couldn't finish
because it was too shallow but this author is one of the the top in this kind that make the story very interesting and keep you reading till the end. Good writing and it is indeed a good read for me.

I have just finished reading THE GATECRASHER at three o'clock this morning and I found it to be ever so entertaining with characters that made the book appealing for me.

Fleur Daxeny is a forty something year old sophisticated gatecrasher, who habitually attends funerals and memorial services of widows from very elite and wealthy backgrounds. Assisted by a male friend Johnny, they comb the obituaries with a fine tooth comb every day weeding out the millionaires from the rest of us. Then decked out in her wonderful black hats and fashionable outfits she puts herself in a position to meet the millionaire at the service of his dead wife, where she lances her charm on the poor unsuspecting vulnerable man, until she finally makes it to his wallet, into bank account......and enjoy all the niceties of a cushiony lifestyle.

But in THE GATECRASHER on this particular occasion, she will meet Richard Favour a, man with a family and who is different to those she has trodden on before. You'll meet Richard's son Antony, his daughter Philippa and her husband Lambert as well as Zara; Fleur's daughter who comes into the picture mid-way and causes a certain change in the tide. The characters are great and have made this book what it is........so entertaining.

Nutface
March 16th, 2002

If you are a fan of English writers, you will enjoy this one! The story keeps you interested -- even though the main character is a crook, somehow she carries it off in the story with style! I think this is just a cute easy to read book!

What's remarkable about The Gatecrasher is that the "heroine" is anything but. In fact, even at the end of the story I didn't like her much. It's the impact that Fleur has on the lives around her that makes this a good book. The other characters - Richard the widower she picks up at his wives' memorial service, Johnny her longtime friend who finally kicks her where she needs it, Richard's children and in-laws, and finally Zara, her own daughter - that you come to love, each for their own strengths and weaknesses. The two teens, Antony and Zara, are particularly compelling.

"The Gatecrasher" is an upper-class, refined, oh-so-British version of the con artist who falls in love with her prey. Fleur Daxeny (you have to love that name) attends the memorial services of wealthy wives so she can insinuate her way into the affections of their vulnerable widowers; as soon as she has a Gold Card in hand - conveniently billed to the widower, of course - she is outta there. But her latest target, Richard Favour, gives Fleur something of a crisis of confidence: he's so darn nice, and thoughtful, and sweet, and genuine, that she isn't sure she'll be able to go through with the scam after all. This isn't a new plot device (and so, to some extent, the story feels like it's been done before), but Madeleine Wickham works it with all she's got. It's great fun to peer into the lives of the wealthy, especially when they live in mansions in the English countryside and drink beverages like "buck's fizz" and wear couture hats. Fleur manages to be charming and likeable despite her ulterior motives. And because Wickham does a good job with characterization and plot, one can easily overlook the more predictable elements of the book. The result is a stylish and well-written story reminiscent of Brit writers like Joanna Trollope.