He didn’t think it was that difficult. When Liz persuaded her husband Jonathan to buy Silchester Tutorial College she was convinced that the sale of their home – the one put up for sale, in fact, to be able to pay the mortgage granted by the bank – would be very quick. And in fact they had found a buyer right away. It was a young couple looking for a love nest and their home seemed perfect to the two boys. It was Liz and Jonathan who had stalled on that occasion: at that time they weren’t sure they would be able to find all the money needed to purchase the school and thought they needed to better outline their plans before proceeding. with the sale. As a result they had kept the buyers in suspense for a couple of weeks, during which time, however, the boys had found an alternative. And now Liz finds herself there, sitting in that office in front of the real estate agent – who, unlike her, seems appropriately dressed for that late summer day and does not appear to be sweating profusely, as she does, on the contrary – who is repeating to her the need to lower the selling price by at least fifty thousand pounds, in order to hope to arrive at a purchase offer in a reasonable time. Liz knows that, in reality, there isn’t too much time. The banks granted the loan precisely because Liz and Jonathan Chambers guaranteed the sale of their home quickly. And yet nothing moves. The agent continues to repeat that patience is needed, because the real estate market is going through a complicated, downturn moment. Liz’s irritation is growing: if there is a problem, part of the blame lies with the agency, which did not carry out its role carefully and did not find the right buyer before that damned downturn hit the equally damned real estate market. If that dandy in the suit and tie had moved in this way, you wouldn’t be standing there now proposing to lower the price and, in addition, to build a hydromassage shower in the house to keep up with the competition. Damn the competition and the real estate market, she curses Liz a moment before being interrupted by laughter. Marcus Witherstone, also a real estate agent, overheard part of the conversation between his colleague and Liz and, perhaps, has one solution to propose: try to rent the Chambers’ property, rather than sell it…
Before becoming Sophie Kinsella, the brilliant author of the I love shopping series, Madeleine Wickham wrote and published several comedies, united by the fact that they narrate contemporary society with skill, irony and accuracy, highlighting its critical issues, fixations and peculiar traits. In this case the reader meets a middle-class family who embarks on a courageous and risky business: the purchase of a private school, with a consequent considerable financial investment. Loans, mortgages, accounts and balance sheets become the daily bread for Liz and Jonathan Chambers who, together with their daughter Alice – who had to undergo the move and the change of life – create their new home from the spaces of the college they purchased and struggle to sell the their old property. When finally, on the advice of a wealthy and extremely fascinating real estate agent, the old house finds a couple of tenants, the situation becomes further complicated: even if now, from an economic point of view, one could begin to breathe, the family balance suffers a fracture. Alice has a deep admiration for the new tenant couple, Jonathan accepts every new thing without actively taking part in anything and Liz… Liz is very confused. This story doesn’t show the usual Kinsella, sparkling and full of humour. Maybe it’s because of her characters, which aren’t particularly characterized; or it is the story itself, ordinary and devoid of that originality to which the author has accustomed her readers. The fact is that we are faced with an ordinary story, not particularly lively, in which the critical issues that families may have to face during their life project are certainly highlighted, but without that liveliness that makes every reading of the texts of Kinsella is exciting and never boring. A novel recommended for those who have always followed Kinsella and want to know her entire production, but not recommended as a first reading for those who are approaching the British author, whose pen is usually much more lively and intriguing.
