By Sophie Kinsella
SPOILERS BELOW!!
The Party Crasher is the latest offering from Sophie Kinsella, who navigates a marriage breakdown and the effects of it on a family while maintaining her trademark humour throughout.
In the heart of this is our heroine, Effie, who hasn’t gotten over her parents’ divorce. She is struggling to accept her dad’s new girlfriend and thinks she is a gold digger. When her dad decides to sell the beloved family home, she is unhappy and assumes the girlfriend is behind this decision.
When they decide to throw a house cooling party, to say goodbye to the house one more time, she refuses to come. But then she realises her precious Russian dolls are still in the house and she wants them back before the new owners arrive. She decides to crash the party quietly without anyone noticing and get the dolls. Of course, with any plan, there will be chaos and unexpected twists and turns.
Throughout the party, Effie learns a lot about each of her family members and what she thought was the truth at first had turned out to be a surprising figment of her overactive brain. What I liked about this story is at the heart of it all is a story of a family coming together as one, after a breakdown of a marriage. It has a wholesome familial bond, one that exudes warmth and good sense of humour.