A Desirable Residence [Hardcover]

Madeleine Wickham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1997

In mortgage trouble, Liz and Jonathan Chambers are relieved when real-estate agent Marcus Witherspoon appears with the perfect people to rent their second home, but the couple soon finds themselves in the midst of an adulterous tryst.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Chick lit superstar Wickham (The Wedding Girl) is in stellar form in her latest, a story of intersecting fates set in suburban London. Self-centered Liz Chambers, bored with her job and under a mountain of debt, frequently lashes out at her even-tempered husband, Jonathan, and begins an affair with wealthy realtor Marcus Witherstone, who proposes that Liz and Jonathan rent their unsold house to a young couple, Ginny and Piers Prentice, with whom Liz and Jonathan's sullen teenage daughter, Alice, strikes up an unexpected friendship. Ginny, meanwhile, pins her hopes on would-be actor Piers getting a part in a soap opera, and Jonathan is put on a pedestal by Marcus's wife, Anthea. Marcus begins regretting a shady business deal that could land him in huge trouble, and as Liz grows more delusional, Ginny becomes more worried and desperate, and Anthea more unforgiving and relentless. It all comes to a head at a party Ginny throws on the eve of Piers's big audition. A well-executed and unexpected ending caps the dizzying action and demonstrates why Wickham is so deservedly on her genre's A-list. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Following The Tennis Party (LJ 3/1/96), Wickham's delightful tale of entanglements examines the manners and morals of three family units in suburban London. Teachers Liz and Jonathan Chambers have a difficult adolescent daughter, two mortgages, an old home, and a new business, Silchester Tutorial College. When real estate mogul Marcus Witherstone finds tenants for the Chambers's old house, their finances improve. However, personal entanglements create problems for Liz and Marcus, as well as for 14-year-old Alice and the tenants, Piers and Ginny. While circumventing the consequences of deceit and guilt, the main characters acknowledge and rectify mistakes, thus ensuring a satisfying completion. Recommended for popular collections.?Ellen R. Cohen, Rockville, Md.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press (March 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031215108X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312151089
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,575,466 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable, light read in the style of Maeve Binchy!, September 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Desirable Residence (Paperback)

Reading "Desirable Residence" was like going to a party and hearing the latest gossip about all your friends and neighbors. The plot was juicy and the characters likable. As a huge Maeve Binchy fan, I enjoyed reading another British author with a flair for characters and plots that connect them to each other. It was a fun and frothy book and made me want to read more of Wickham's work.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 2 1/2 Stars -- A Desirable Residence...Not Very "Desirable"!, June 11, 2010

By 

bobbewig (New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: A Desirable Residence (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

This review is written by my daughter for whom I obtained a copy of A Desirable Residence.

Being a huge Madeleine Wickham/Sophie Kinsella fan I was very excited to hear that a new book of hers was coming out. I jumped into reading A Desirable Residence with much excitement but that excitement faded pretty quickly! Usually when reading Wickham/Kinsella's books I get so deeply into them from page one that I can't seem to put it down. However, with A Desirable Residence I couldn't seem to ever want to pick it up! My only incentive to keep reading was so that I could finish the book and start on a new one. In her defense, Wickham did, as usual, a great job of getting the reader into the minds of the characters and understanding what they are thinking and feeling. Unfortunately, I found the overall story of the book to be quite uneventful and even boring. It wasn't until towards the end of the book that things started to get slightly interesting where I found myself wondering how things would turn out -- but then the ending turned out rather anti-climactic. The only excitement I got out of this book was completing it so I can move onto another that hopefully does a better job in keeping me captivated. Let me just clear up, though, that my status as a major Wickham/Kinsella fan has not changed at all! I would still highly recommend all of her books (minus this one) and will continue to read any new ones that come out in the future!

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lots of fun, June 1, 2001

By 

Patricia Kay "author and avid reader" (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Desirable Residence (Rosamunde Pilcher's Bookshelf) (Mass Market Paperback)

This was a great read, well worth the money I spent, which I can't say for every book I buy. I wish this author had more available, because this is the kind of book I like to take on trips. It has interesting characters, a compelling story line that moves along quickly, intelligent writing, and lots of charm.