NEW RELEASE
The Wedding Writer - Susan Schneider (2011)
Illustrating the equally seductive and cut-throat world of the bridal industry, The Wedding Writer might initially be mistaken as a mimic of The Devil Wears Prada, but this is not the case. Schneider has successfully set the bar higher with her 10 years of experience as writer and editor for varied wedding magazines, providing the book with its realistic insider's view. It tells the story of four women who work for the hottest bridal magazine, Your Wedding, as they adapt to the sudden managerial decision to replace Grace Ralston, the most respectable woman in the industry and the editor-in-chief since the magazine's first issue, by her own protege Lucky Quinn. Each character strives to live up to ideals built on perfection and professionalism, but it all takes a toll on their personal lives. For Grace, it wasn't just the coincidence of her humiliating fall and the folding of her competitors Princess Bride and Tulle that has her at a low ebb but how she has to face everything she used her high-flying career to get away from - the physical realities of being 50, her loneliness and a broken relationship with daughter Isla. Fashion director Sara loves her job more than anything, yet her tiredness is beginning to overwhelm her and she's not so sure she can still cope with Lucky being in charge. Felice knows that she's a failure as a mother to 16-year-old Charles, and how it strains her marriage to Jack. Her job as art director isn't helping, especially now with a change in power, as the compromises she needs as a parent are no longer tolerated. Then there's Lucky, who's finding out life's not particularly easy at the top. This is a well-written book with fantastic characters, definitely one to put on your must-read list! (XT)
Weddings, magazines ... what's not to love about Susan Schneider's debut novel The Wedding Writer, which has been described as "The Devil Wears Prada for the bridal industry". The summary says: "Once a lowly wedding writer, Leigh 'Lucky' Quinn is thrust into power as Your Wedding magazine's new editor-in-chief on the same day that two of the magazine's major competitors fold. It's the 'Big Day' for Lucky and Your Wedding, as well as for the deposed EIC, Grace Ralston, who has been at Your Wedding's helm from day one, and had taken Lucky under her wing. While the formidable Grace faces the humiliation of sudden failure and being forcibly removed from her office (and a future that looms as emptily as an unemployed, pre-cocktail-hour afternoon), Lucky must face the confusion and disappointment of her new staff, especially Felice and Sara, the art and fashion directors left over from Grace's regime. In the wake of Lucky's ascension, for better or for worse, each woman confronts her past and deals with her hectic present." Schneider is a New York bridal magazine editor. The Wedding Writer is out in June.