Wedding Puzzle

 Wedding Puzzle

Reviewed By  Grasshopper2       May 1, 2019

 

Author  Sallie Muirden

Distributor:      Transit Lounge
ISBN:                 978-1-925760-24-8
Publisher:         Transit Lounge Publications
Release Date:   May 2019  

Website:    https://transitlounge.com.au 

Wedding Puzzle is Sallie Muirden’s fourth book and a world away from her writing about old Spanish towns and customs. Sallie was born in Victoria and has lived there for most of her life. It is always enjoyable to read a story that is set in familiar landscapes and places with much of this story taking place around the Mornington Peninsula and in Portsea.

The story begins with an apprehensive bride, Beth, arriving at the hotel where her wedding will be held. She has driven there early in the morning to prepare herself and to collect her thoughts before welcoming her guests later in the day. Beth is still bemused by the fact that her boyfriend, Jordan, took her to the beach for a surf two months ago and on the way home stopped at this Hotel and suggested that they get married in two months’ time. Lading a startled Beth inside, together they booked a date. Beth had always adored Jordan. They went to the same High School, were never in the same sports groups or classes, but she watched him train during lunch times.

Before Beth left home, her Mum slipped her a last-minute reply card. It was from a girl called Tracy. She had been going out with Jordan and the card simply said, “He proposed to me that day.” Beth’s head is full of questions, and because she is a very intense and persistent woman, she analyses her thoughts carefully. Her back story makes her hesitancy believable, and as we follow her teenage years and relationships, we begin to understand the need for Beth to clarify her feelings.

It is a little like stepping into Beth’s life story but with the knowledge that there needs to be an outcome and decision for her future today. What will this sensitive and intense young woman decide? What will be the outcomes if she cancels her wedding, or goes ahead with it?

The story is divided into four distinct parts, it is well written and focussed on a modern-day dilemma.

Fiction