Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

Rebecca Bloomfield loves money and loves to shop.  Her ideal way of spending her lunch hour is go to a sale at her favourite shop and spend up big!  However, every day she arrives home there's a letter or two from Mr. Smeath from Endwick Bank asking for her to pay her credit cards; and they are getting impatient.  Ironically, Rebecca is a financial advisor for Successful Savings magazine; where she writes articles on how to save money in all kinds of ways.  She has every designer brand in her wardrobe from shoes to handbags, ear-rings to every style of dress, skirt, pants, underwear and hat.  However, the banks are becoming impatient with her avoiding them, until one day, she runs into Mr. Smeath at a finance luncheon and Rebecca runs.  She runs from London, her friends, her job, another finance banker she's been eying off, her life and Mr Smeath to her parents' house; only to get herself into trouble again.  This time, though, can Rebecca get herself out of the hole she's dug?

I hadn't heard of the book until the film came out and Hollywood had glammed it up.  Then, when this book arrived through Bookcrossing I put it into one of my bookcases to read at some point; and forgot about it until a week ago or so.  This book reminded me of why I don't have a credit card, why I only shop with cash and also why I take a list with me when I go out shopping.  Deep down, we're all shopaholics, we've all got our own weaknesses - be it vinyls, books, bumper stickers, cds, dvds or handbags - and we have to deal with them somehow.  

Born in London, Sophie Kinsella studied music at New College, Oxford, but after a year switched to Politics, Philosophy and Economics. 

Sophie wrote her first novel under her real name, Madeleine Wickham, at the tender age of 24, whilst she was working as a financial journalist. The Tennis Party was immediately hailed as a success by critics and the public alike and became a top ten bestseller. She went on to publish six more novels as Madeleine Wickham: A Desirable Residence, Swimming Pool Sunday, The Gatecrasher, The Wedding Girl, Cocktails for Three and Sleeping Arrangements.

She submitted her first ‘Sophie Kinsella’ novel anonymously to her existing publishers and it was snapped up without her editors knowing that she was already one of their authors. It wasn’t until the appropriately titled Can You Keep a Secret? was published that Sophie revealed her true identity for the first time.

Sophie now lives in London, UK, with her husband and family.