I read a lot. Mostly I choose a book based on it being by someone I’ve read before and enjoyed or that someone has recommended
to me or quite often that someone has bought for me. This though was one of those rare times when I had nothing in line, nothing I fancied particularly but a longing to have something to take to bed (ooh er). If it was any good I could savour it all weekend and perhaps through the week too. So, you understand it’s an important purchase. So there I was in Asda gazing up at the top 10 and nothing immediately jumped out at me but my eye kept returning to The Bride Stripped Bare – Anonymous. I read the back cover, put it back on the shelf. Picked a few more up, read some more covers put them back. Eventually I decided. For the princely sum of ¢3.49 I could afford to take the chance The Bride Stripped Bare was coming home.
Some observations
This is a strange sort of book. It felt strange from the beginning. First of all, it’s author is Anonymous. That prompts all sorts of questions. The book starts with a letter to the publisher from a mother claiming to have found this book on her deceased daughters’ laptop. Hmmm. The book is narrated by a third person, which I initially found unusual and at times uncomfortable. I did get used to it and in the end it did not detract from my enjoyment of the story.
The book is divided in to lessons rather than chapters, after the first twenty-six lessons part two of the book begins. Each lesson starts with a saying. These seemed slightly strange at the beginning of the book and it transpires they were taken from two Victorian texts,’ Readings in Necessary Knowledge for Women’ by Rev. J.P.Faunthorpe and Mary Scharlieb’s ‘A Woman’s Words to Woman on the care of their Health in England in Wales’ and the anonymous text Woman’s Worth which was the original inspiration behind this book and can be found in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.
No doubt you are saying just get on with it will you! But I make no apologies for going into such detail because if you decide to read the book following this review you will know from the out set that there is more going on than meets the eye and to go with it. The journey this book takes you on is bitter sweet, complex and personal and each Woman (I say Woman as it really is a Woman’s book) who reads it will interpret it differently and I imagine try to relate to the main character in a different way based on personal experience. Maybe you will just read it not give it any further thought I don’t know. I felt it was not the run of the mill story type book. Once I accepted this I started to enjoy it more.
The Plot
The book begins on the honeymoon. An explanation of the early days of the
relationship and a history of life before
marriage. The beginning also talks about a friendship, a very close friendship, which sounded a bit to close to me but this unfolds through the course of the book.
A truth is discovered on the honeymoon and part two of the book begins when the couple arrive back in London.
This book really is one woman’s journey into womanhood. Into married life through betrayal, intimacy, eroticism, fantasy. It explores all the personal relationships surrounding these emotions. The marriage almost crumbles after the truth uncovered on the honeymoon but it is sustained partly through an affair, which is intense on many levels and as in the main husband/wife relationship the nature of this relationship changes as the book goes on. There is also a difficult parental relationship and I think most people will identify with at least one of the difficult personal traumas that occur within these pages. They are so personal it is easy to understand why this book was written anonymously.
The ending of the book is joyous and happy and you hope they live happily ever after. Time will tell.
Afterwards
The edition of this book I have has a sticker on the front exclaiming insights, interviews and more inside. At the end of the book you fiind out the author was in fact Nicky Gemmel and that this work is a patchwork of her own and other women’s experiences that she felt had to be protected. It turns out the book did so unexpectedly well the Sunday Telegraph hunted her down. At the time of writing her marriage is still intact.
This is Gemmels’ fourth book and I have not read any of the others so cannot comment on any comparison. I would read her work in future though.
Definitely worth a read but dark in places and despite the oh so happy ending sometimes uncomfortable feeling. I really enjoyed it but sometimes was glad to put it down for a while.
ISBN No. 0-00-716354-1