The Gatecrasher (Rosamunde Pilcher's Bookshelf)

Rating:
Summary: Interesting Tale - easy read, but makes you think
Review: "The Gatecrasher" is an upper-class, refined, oh-so-British version of the con artist who falls in love with her prey. Fleur Daxeny (you have to love that name) attends the memorial services of wealthy wives so she can insinuate her way into the affections of their vulnerable widowers; as soon as she has a Gold Card in hand - conveniently billed to the widower, of course - she is outta there. But her latest target, Richard Favour, gives Fleur something of a crisis of confidence: he's so darn nice, and thoughtful, and sweet, and genuine, that she isn't sure she'll be able to go through with the scam after all. This isn't a new plot device (and so, to some extent, the story feels like it's been done before), but Madeleine Wickham works it with all she's got. It's great fun to peer into the lives of the wealthy, especially when they live in mansions in the English countryside and drink beverages like "buck's fizz" and wear couture hats. Fleur manages to be charming and likeable despite her ulterior motives. And because Wickham does a good job with characterization and plot, one can easily overlook the more predictable elements of the book. The result is a stylish and well-written story reminiscent of Brit writers like Joanna Trollope.

Rating:
Summary: complex, no clear-cut villain or good-guys
Review: A glamorous fortysomething woman with the improbable name of Fleur Daxeny is a gatecrasher -- she attends the funerals and memorial services in search of potentially wealthy widowers, claiming to be a friend of the late wife. She then makes the man fall in love with her and takes just enough money so he is humiliated but can recoup his loss without charging her as a criminal. By that time, she's long gone.

Fleur meets Richard Favour this way, but she actually starts to fall in love. Richard, in turn, starts to love Fleur as does his entire extended family. In light of Fleur and her teenaged daughter Zara (who is upset with her mother's con-artist ways), the family starts to let Richard know that Emily, his late wife, was never really all that perfect.

The storyline I liked most was that of Philippa, Richard's adult daughter, and her mercenary nasty husband, Lambert. It turns out Emily had a hand in her daughter's low self-esteem and subsequent acceptance of Lambert's proposal years ago.

There are no real good guys or villains in this, and you are left a bit dissatisfied at all the loose ends, but it is still a compelling tale.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Wickham Read
Review: Fleur Daxeny is a funeral crasher - she's a con artist who preys on recent wealthy widowers and makes off with some of their money. Her most recent victim is Richard Favour whose wife Emily has just died. However, what she doesn't count on is that Richard and his family may change her just as much as she changes them.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and the just over 300 pages seemed to turn themselves. While I felt that Fleur's past was perhaps a little glossed over and could have been brought out more and that there was some foreshadowing that's denouement fell a bit flat, I felt that overall this was a great read. I will definitely be reading more of Ms. Wickham's work!

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining With Impressionable Characters
Review: I have just finished reading THE GATECRASHER at three o'clock this morning and I found it to be ever so entertaining with characters that made the book appealing for me.

Fleur Daxeny is a forty something year old sophisticated gatecrasher, who habitually attends funerals and memorial services of widows from very elite and wealthy backgrounds. Assisted by a male friend Johnny, they comb the obituaries with a fine tooth comb every day weeding out the millionaires from the rest of us. Then decked out in her wonderful black hats and fashionable outfits she puts herself in a position to meet the millionaire at the service of his dead wife, where she lances her charm on the poor unsuspecting vulnerable man, until she finally makes it to his wallet, into bank account......and enjoy all the niceties of a cushiony lifestyle.

But in THE GATECRASHER on this particular occasion, she will meet Richard Favour a, man with a family and who is different to those she has trodden on before. You'll meet Richard's son Antony, his daughter Philippa and her husband Lambert as well as Zara; Fleur's daughter who comes into the picture mid-way and causes a certain change in the tide. The characters are great and have made this book what it is........so entertaining.

Nutface
March 16th, 2002

Rating:
Summary: You will enjoy this one!
Review: If you are a fan of English writers, you will enjoy this one! The story keeps you interested -- even though the main character is a crook, somehow she carries it off in the story with style! I think this is just a cute easy to read book!

Rating:
Summary: Sort of like AbFab but with less comedy
Review: Social climbing and the lengths people will go to in order to make a better life for themselves can be fascinating. In The Gatecrasher we have one such anti-heroine, but thankfully, she is surrounded by some of the most interesting and likable characters I have met as of late.

Fleur Daxeny crashes funerals in order to meet rich, vulnerable men, and take as much as she can get from them before moving on. She's been doing this successfully for a while and has her routine down pat. When we meet her, she is in the process of getting ready for the new batch of funerals coming her way, charging her stylish new black outfits to her unsuspecting, soon-to-be-deserted, Greek lover.

Her target at Emily Valour's memorial service is, of course, Emily's bereaved husband Richard, a rich man who mourns the wife he's lost but at the same time realizes the he's never really known her. What Richard has never had is a passionate soul mate, a woman who can make each day come alive and instill in him the desire to truly live. Fleur is determined to be all that and more.

Little by little we see Fleur stealthily become an integral part of Richard's life. Damn his club and his gossipy acquaintances, Richard thinks. For the first time in his life he desires and is desired, although guilty thoughts of Emily do pop up whenever he's tempted to make love to Fleur, who knows that Richard must succumb physically in order to be completely hers.

Richard's children are, of course, dysfunctional. Young Antony lives in shame of the birthmark that made him imperfect to his mother and his social life is painfully awkward and nonexistent. Daughter Philippa is married to the odious and greedy Lambert, the man Emily said would be the only one to marry an such an undesirable package as she. Needless to say, Fleur soon realizes that Emily was far from a kind person, be it in the capacity of wife, mother, or sister, and is soon charming Richard, his children, and Emily's own sister, the initially reticent Gillian.

It is never part of Fleur's plan to linger so long at Richard's, but first the lack of sex, and then the fact that he hasn't yet given her a Gold Card (Fleur's preferred method of getting her hands on her target's money) serve to stall matters. Finally, Fleur's daughter Zara arrives, creating all sorts of complications with Antony as a triumphant Fleur, Gold Card finally in hand, gets ready to leave and move on to her next victim.

Richard is the most likable of men - a little clueless when it comes to his children, but he definitely means well. His feelings where Fleur is concerned are pure and tender, and I couldn't help but feel for him as Fleur became increasingly bored with him.

Much like Zara does when she finds herself up against her mother's machinations, I found myself losing patience with Fleur, and honestly wished that she'd gotten more of what she really deserved. The ending only works if one believes that the selfish, vain, greedy Fleur of 99% of the book has really changed.

The secondary characters, however, were priceless. Philippa's pathetic marriage to Lambert is truly sad and real, just as Antony's desire to belong is heartbreaking. Gillian, who at first so hated Fleur, made me smile as she succumbs to Fleur's charm and wears the blue scarf Fleur gives her - every single day.

This book will probably not be for everyone. Fleur is cold, ruthless, and calculating as she begins to ensnare Richard, who never has a clue about the captivating woman he's met. But if you're in the mood for a sort of Absolutely Fabulous storyline with a bit less comedy, then I recommend you try The Gatecrasher.