Amazon.co.uk Review
Jane Green's sixth novel has a touch of
Pygmalion about it. Alice Chambers, the heroine of
Spellbound was known as "wallpaper" at school a "shy, mousy girl" who tended to disappear into the background. As an adult she runs a successful catering company but things remain pretty much the same. That is until Joe Mitchell, a crush from Alice's teenage years, decides to make her his fair lady: "with a diet, a decent hairdresser and a new wardrobe she'd be a whole new woman by the time he'd finished with her"--and, yes, you can grit your teeth at this very un-feminist idea! Joe works hard and earns lots of money, Alice has a lovely house and enviable clothes, and they both live happily ever after.
No of course they don't. Alice soon realises that "Joe is not the knight in shining armour she had once thought", largely due to his serial philandering. When his affair with a coworker is discovered, he is forced by his company to move to New York, and Alice goes too. It is at this point, in their new country home, that Alice is forced to face up to all that is wrong with her life. Feeling "quite happy" is no longer good enough, nor is staying with a man who "loves his wife", but who "is addicted to having affairs". It's time for Alice to pursue her own dreams, no matter how painful the process. Spellbound is an old fashioned story of metamorphosis, but told with the modern economy and wit that is Jane Green's trademark. --Eithne Farry
Review
Growing up, Alice Chambers thought she was invisible. It wasn't that people looked at her strangely or disliked her; in fact Alice would have almost welcomed that, but rather it was the way people looked right through her as if she didn't exist. She was just dull, ordinary old Alice, and most people simply looked the other way. Alice couldn't believe it when Joe, the town's most eligible bachelor, asked her to marry him and the fairy tale began. Joe is ambitious and knows the importance of having the 'right' wife. He also knows that under his guidance the compliant Alice can be quickly transformed from just plain to just plain beautiful. Before long Alice and Joe are the coolest couple in town, with their photographs splashed across the cover of the latest glossy magazines. On the surface Alice has everything that she has ever wanted, but deep down she can't help wondering what happened to her girlhood dreams of a carefree family life in the country. Perhaps when Joe's career is firmly established, she reasons, they can quit the social whirl and settle down. But Joe is deliriously happy with his life just the way it is. He has a beautiful wife and a great job and, using his high-powered job as an excuse, can still manage to find the time for a string of illicit affairs. He would never ever hurt Alice, but then again, what she doesn't know.... A career move to New York with a flat in town and a fashionable country house in Connecticut is the dawning of a huge change in Alice. In the country she is alive in a way she hasn't been in years and as she finally discovers what makes her truly happy, Joe feels his hold over her slip away. Jane Green is one of the best romantic novelists around, and this is an entertaining and well-written story that will keep you interested from beginning to end. Complete with a cast of colourful characters, the plot holds few surprises but is nonetheless hugely satisfying. (Kirkus UK)
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