I've been told I like mostly depressing books. I don't know if that's true, but it seems to me that well-written books, books that face the human condition, often deal with people with real-life-problems to solve.
So, when I found a list of books that Barnes and Noble calls "unputdownable," I thought I'd take a look at one of those titles, A Vintage Affair. On the cover, a quote says, "Read this if you're in need of a serious feel-good factor."
I agree with both Barnes and Noble, that this is a book a person (a women, anyway) wants to keep reading, and with the "feel-good" reviewer.
Phoebe owns a vintage clothing shop, and I learned a lot about expensive clothing, something I'd never much wondered about. Phoebe is recovering from the sudden death of her best friend, a death that she feels some guilt about. And, Phoebe has three men in her life, and the reader wonders which, if any, she will end up with.
But, most interesting, a client of Phoebe's has a child's blue coat she refuses to part with, a coat whose story takes us back to the Holocaust. The author skillfully ties the two time periods together, and with some coincidences, Phoebe learns the story of young girls and a blue coat in 1942.
Other peripheral stories, too, about customers and clothes enrich the plot.
Vintage Affair reminded me a little of Sarah's Key, where some clue in the present starts a young woman on a quest back to the years of the Holocaust. Thus, while this is a book with a mostly happy ending, it is not "polly-anna-ish" and definitely handles real human problems. Vintage Affair clips right along, and I thought it was worth reading. But did Phoebe end up with the right man?? I'm not so sure.
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