The good-hearted folks on the Scottish island of Mure – next stop Norway – are looking forward to livening up summer with AN ISLAND WEDDING. If all went smoothly, there wouldn’t be much of a plot, so get ready for fun and games, and maybe some tears.
Flora MacKenzie and her fiancé Joel Binder, who is originally American, are enjoying raising their baby, Douglas. He’s just started to talk. There are a lot of baby-related lines in the story, and people like me tend to skip over the ones relating to changing. Flora and Joel are planning a quiet wedding this summer. Unexpectedly, a former island resident gets in touch. Also planning her wedding, Olivia MacDonald, a trendy Instagram poster, wants to host her big day at Flora's hotel. The hospitality income will be essential to the community, so everyone tries to go along, even though the dates of the two marriages are similar. It’s quite obvious that Olivia only wants a photo opportunity, not to reconnect. Still, that’s allowed.
A more edgy storyline follows teacher Lorna MacLeod and doctor Saif Hassan, who are in a clandestine relationship. Saif, who seems like a decent bloke, is from Syria and fled the civil war with his two little boys. He’d like to apply to remain in Britain, as doctors are needed, and he’s a valued part of the community, so there’s a good chance for acceptance. But Lorna risks losing her job by seeing him. There are complications.
With whales and watersports, touchy chefs and persistent wedding planners, there’s a lot happening. There isn’t much drama really, given that we do not care about the influencer’s perfect one-day wedding trip. For me, it was like watching someone choose wallpaper. If you have been enjoying the Mure series to date, you will probably want to know how all the usual cast get along. Jenny Colgan has provided the fifth book in this series, and tries to keep it topical. AN ISLAND WEDDING holds some cynical lines about what the wealthy want to be seen serving and how much they actually intend to pay for it. Maybe we can all learn that Insta celebrations are not what they seem.
On the little Scottish island of Mure—halfway between Scotland and Norway—Flora MacKenzie and her fiancé Joel are planning the smallest of “sweetheart weddings,” a high summer celebration surrounded only by those very dearest to them.
Not everyone on the island is happy about being excluded, though. The temperature rises even further when beautiful Olivia MacDonald—who left Mure ten years ago for bigger and brighter things—returns with a wedding planner in tow. Her fiancé has oodles of family money, and Olivia is determined to throw the biggest, most extravagant, most Instagrammable wedding possible. And she wants to do it at Flora’s hotel, the same weekend as Flora’s carefully planned micro-wedding.
As the summer solstice approaches, can Flora handle everyone else’s Happy Every Afters—and still get her own?
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