In Review

04 December 2008 02:50 BST

All I Want Is You by Martina Reilly

Published by Little, Brown, out now, paperback, 416pp, £10.99.

In a nutshell…

Riches-to-rags. Romantic. Amusing. Holiday chick-lit.

What's it all about?

Set in and around Dublin, the story follows the trials and tribulations of daughter of a wealthy businessman, housewife Poppy Furlong, whose husband's business collapses leaving them penniless.

While coming to terms with the at-first horrifying notion of downsizing their home, getting low-paid jobs and being unable to afford designer clothing, Poppy is hit with the news that her 'energetic' six-year-old son is in fact suffering from ADHD and her evil mother-in-law has breast cancer.

Luckily enough, the now euro-shop-employed Poppy's wealthy father has just retired so is on hand to help out while she holds down a job, takes her son to the doctor, moves the mother-in-law in to nurse her and copes with the strain being poor is placing on her marriage – all while organising a celebrity charity auction with her socialite mother and friends.

The book recounts her day-to-day sufferings and successes as she faces up to the real world and comes to understand the importance of friendships and family relationships in dealing with life's ups and downs.

Who is it by?

Martina Reilly is an Irish author who lives in Kildare, not far from Dublin. She has penned six other novels - Flipside, The Onion Girl, Is This Love, Something Borrowed, Wish Upon a Star and Wedded Blitz – as well as a number of teen books. A drama teacher and a freelance columnist for the Irish Independent Weekend magazine, Reilly is also mum to two children.

As an example

"Well," the woman asked again, "what qualities have you to bring to your position of Assistant Manager?"

This question, I hadn't been prepared for. I bit my lip and winced. WHAT QUALITIES DID I HAVE??? I stared at the twenty-something woman who was asking me and I just wanted to get down on my knees and beg the job. No more questions please, I wanted to howl.

"Well," I licked my lips and shifted about on the hard chair, "very, very, very unique qualities actually."

"Such as?"

"Well … for instance … I have a lovely wardrobe of clothes that I can wear in every day and so therefore I can make your shop look even more upmarket."

A silence. I think it was a disbelieving silence.

When she eventually decided to speak, it was in a very low voice. "My shop is upmarket. It's an upmarket clothes shop. That's why it's called Upmarket."

S***! S***! S***! "Yes," I struggled to justify myself, "but you don't sell Prada or Gucci, do you? I could introduce your customers to those brands."

"And make them shop somewhere else?"

"Well, no. I just thought …"

She said that she'd let me know.

(Poppy goes for her first job interview)

Likelihood of becoming a Hollywood blockbuster

Don't put money on it – inoffensively readable and cockle-warming tales such as this may have made it to the big screen before, but there is little here that is different or thrilling enough to land it automatically in the path of a screenwriter.

What the others say

"Hard to put down, laugh-out-loud funny … perfect holiday reading." - Woman's Way

So is it any good?

Although incredibly unlikely to prompt any deep or enlightening reflection in readers, as a light and easygoing tale of strength in the face of adversity the book is not bad. Poppy, as the heroine, gradually becomes a sympathetic character who becomes tangibly more likeable as the story progresses and the bad news mounts up. The emotional journeys that she and her family and friends end up on result in a satisfactorily, if predictably, happy ending – hurrah, we're poor but we have each other.

A light and fluffy read it certainly is, but it could possibly have been more heartrending if only Reilly had restrained herself in doling out the bad times to long-suffering Poppy. Set up at the start of the book as a happy-go-lucky housewife mother-of-one with piles of cash in the bank and racks of swish shoes in the walk-in wardrobe, Poppy's transformation into a hard-working family cog is dealt with too superficially to make her either real or memorable enough.

Having said that, it is suitably interspersed with enough appropriately romantic, amusing and touching moments to entertain and be highly readable. Doubtless this book will prove popular with readers of this genre – if only as the multitude of problems Poppy faces in the course of the book is likely to make her relatable in some way to almost everyone.

6/10

Eleanor Gilbert