Shopaholic to the Rescue
Contents (27)
Shopaholic to the Rescue is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2015 by Madhen Media Ltd.
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by The Dial Press, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.
THE DIAL PRESS and the HOUSE colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.
Published in the United Kingdom by Bantam Press, an imprint of Transworld Publishers, a member of The Random House Group, London.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Kinsella, Sophie, author.
Shopaholic to the rescue : a novel / Sophie Kinsella.
pages ; cm
ISBN 978-0-8129-9824-5 (hardback)
ISBN 978-0-8129-9825-2 (eBook)
1. Family secrets—Fiction. I. Title.
PR6073.I246S58 2015
823'.914—dc23
2015026888
eBook ISBN 9780812998252
randomhousebooks.com
Book design by Dana Leigh Blanchette, adapted for eBook
Illustrations on the title page, chapter openers,
and this page, this page, this page, and this page: © iStockphoto.com
Title and illustration design: Scott Biel
v4.1
ep
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Dedication
Acknowledgments
By Sophie Kinsella
About the Author
From: [email protected]
To: Brandon, Rebecca
Subject: A “request”
Dear Mrs. Brandon,
It has been a long time since I saw you last. I hope you and your family are flourishing.
As for myself, I am enjoying a life of retirement but find my mind often casting back fondly to episodes from my professional life at Endwich Bank. I have therefore decided to embark upon an “autobiography” or “memoir,” provisionally entitled: Good and Bad Debts: The Ups and Downs of a Patient (and Not So Patient!) Fulham Bank Manager.
I have written two chapters already, which were well received by members of my local horticultural club; several present even expressed the opinion: “They should put it on TV!” Well, I don’t know about that!!
I might say, Mrs. Brandon, that you were always one of my more “colorful” customers and had a “unique” approach to your finances. (I heartily hope and believe that you have mended your ways with maturity.) We crossed swords many a time, but I trust we reached some sort of “entente cordiale” by the time of my retirement?
I therefore wonder if I might interview you for my book at a time convenient to yourself? I await your reply with pleasure.
Yours sincerely,
Derek Smeath
Bank Manager (Retd.)
From: [email protected]
To: Brandon, Rebecca
Subject: Re: Re: A “request”
Dear Mrs. Brandon,
I write in disappointment. I approached you in good faith, as a fellow professional, or even, dare I say, friend. I hoped to be treated as “such.”
If you do not wish to be interviewed for my “memoir,” then that is your choice. However, I am saddened that you felt the need to concoct an elaborate lie. Clearly this ridiculous, convoluted story about “racing after your father towards Las Vegas” to “uncover some mystery” and make sure “poor Tarkie isn’t being brainwashed” is entirely fictitious.
How many times, Mrs. Brandon, have I held missives from you in which you have claimed to have “broken your leg,” “suffered from glandular fever,” or told me that your (imaginary) dog has died? I had hoped that as a mature, married mother, you might have grown up a little. However, I find myself sadly disappointed.
Yours sincerely,
Derek Smeath