A few months back, the nation seemingly became addicted to a certain show called 'My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding'. Okay, so admittedly I didn't watch much of it - mainly some snippets in order to see what everyone was making a fuss about - but from what I had seen, the show participants not only amused us with the huge pink dresses and 'grabbing', but it also provided us with an insight into the traveller community.
Which was why Gypsy Wedding, the latest novel by Kate Lace, was rather interesting. Obviously I assumed that this was inspired by the documentary, and perhaps it was, but that didn't stop me from picking it up even though I was not a huge fan of the TV show.
In Gypsy Wedding, 17-year-old Vicky has her life already mapped out. Engaged to Liam for the past two years, Vicky's family is all ready for their wedding to go ahead. What more could she want? Vicky's bagged the nicest guy on the trailer park, her family are all set to fund the wedding and what's more, Liam's just bought their very own trailer.
However, Vicky's just got into college, and is studying dressmaking - her dream job. Traveller women don't generally work, so Vicky's career aspirations are already quashed. But she loves to study, although soon, with her friends (especially hot classmate Jordan), Vicky starts to wonder about the possibility of a normal life...
With her family constantly pestering about the wedding date, Vicky finds herself constantly putting it off, leaving little sister Shania annoyed at the delay of her own upcoming nuptials. Plus, it's not long before her classmates discover her well-concealed secret of her family background.
It's a life that Vicky was born into and has come to accept. But what if she discovers that it's not the life she wants after all?
Gypsy Wedding was a quick, light read that I finished in one sitting. However, I did expect more from this novel. I'm trying to avoid spoilers here, but the book did not deliver just what I expected from the synopsis. Vicky has grown up to believe that traveller women should behave in a certain way and live to certain rules that do not exist outside of their community. This was interesting; I do not know much about traveller life and it was nice to get an insight into this. But Vicky's character just did not ring true. There seemed to be no love dilemma as was hinted in the blurb, and I expected more exciting things to happen in Vicky's life - things that would have made this a far more exciting read.
Gypsy Wedding reads like more of a teen novel and even though I did enjoy reading it, I didn't really care much about Vicky towards the end. That said, I'm a fan of Kate Lace's previous books and would love to read her next offering. This book is worth a read, especially if you liked the show.
Rating: 3/5
