Product Description

Do fairytale dresses bring fairytale endings? Every dress has a history, so does Phoebe! Phoebe always dreamt of opening her own vintage dress shop. She imagined every detail, from the Vivienne Westwood bustiers hanging next to satin gowns, to sequinned cupcake dresses adorning the walls. At the launch of Village Vintage, Phoebe feels the tingle of excitement as customers snap up the fairytale dresses. Her dream has come true, but a secret from her past is casting a shadow over her new venture. Then one day she meets Therese, an elderly Frenchwoman with a collection to sell, apart from one piece that she won't part with ! As Therese tells the story of the little blue coat, Phoebe feels a profound connection with her own life, one that will help her heal the pain of her past and allow her to love again.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1830 in Books
• Published on: 2009-01-19
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 423 pages

Review
`The love triangle is light and sparky, but what makes the book stand out is Wolff's passion for vintage fashion; velvety, silken prose describes the clothes and their history, with several pieces telling rich stories that develop into compelling sub-plots'
Easy Living --Easy Living

Review
`Romance in a vintage clothes shop - we were sold from line one. Luckily, this book lives up to its hype, and is filled with all the sensory goodness that leads to inevitable comparisons to Joanne Harris - this is an author to bookmark.'
Irish Tatler

Review
'What a lovely book! Protagonist and narrator Phoebe gives a passionate insight into the world of vintage clothing (nope, I had no idea it was this big either) where she works, and the world of emotional pain where she lives, having suffered a chain of tragic and unlucky events. I don't want to give too much away, but a rather bittersweet love story is described in wonderful, vivid detail; brilliantly well-drawn characters abound and the vintage bits very well researched. It really is full of quite fascinating stuff. I hate to admit it, but I had a few tears in my eyes at the end. Read this if you're in need of a serious feelgood factor.' Sara Lawrence, Daily Mail.

Customer Reviews

So enjoyable!
I was stuck at an airport with a few hours to kill when the blurb for this book caught my interest. I picked it up found a spot to curl up in an proceeded to pass some of the most enjoyable hours I've ever spent waiting at an airport and flying home.

The story is about Phoebe Swift who after a major upheval in her life throws up her perfectly good job to open a vintage clothing store. This brings her into contact with Therese, an elderly Frenchwoman who is selling her collection of clothes except for one little blue coat. Phoebe connects with Therese as she shares the story of the blue coat.

The characters are very sympathetically drawn and the story behind the blue coat is both powerful and moving. There's not many chick lit writers who could manage a story about the holocaust as one of the key elements of their novel, and carry it off without it being maudlin or miserable.

All in all, an excellent read that I would highly recommend and that I'll be loaning to all my friends.

Thoroughly enjoyable...
IW's latest offering is wondeful! I enjoyed every page - the pace was perfect and the story was human and very readable.
Phoebe, early thirties, opens up a vintage clothes shop and with it, her life story unfolds. We are swept on a romantic, often witty, always poignant tale of best friends and regrets that can last a lifetime. Mrs Bell, an old lady befriended by phoebe has a sad tale to tell and through it, Phoebe is able to work through some of her own pain.
From the beginning, there is a warmth to this novel and the characterisation is superb - you get under the skin of the central characters and want to stay there. The tale is cleverly interwoven with a few interesting and relevant sub-plots that didn't feel, as they often can, superfluous and like 'padding out'...
I read this in just a couple of sittings and having read, and enjoyed, all of IW's other novels, this is probably my favourite. She writes with a maturity and emotional dexterity that was lacking in her earlier work.
Highly recommended...

A Vintage Affair
Lovely book. By far her best, it moved me to tears in places but is definitely a "feel good" book. I was sorry to come to the end.