´óÏó´«Ã½

Hertfordshire’s Sophie King is the author of bestselling novels including The School Run, Mums@Home and Second Time Lucky. All deal with familiar scenarios in modern life, things like the daily route to school, addiction to a web site and life after divorce. They are the sort of books which appeal to a wide range of people, from teenagers to grandparents and all will particularly resonate with those who can identify with a chaotic family life.

As a busy author, journalist, teacher of creative writing and the mother of three children with a dog, a cat and a terrapin, it’s easy to see Sophie’s inspiration for these recreations of busy working lives. But a recent chapter in her life has not so much provided the impetus for her latest novel, as been a case of art imitating life.

In a situation that could come straight from the best romantic fiction, Sophie recently married the best man from her first wedding and, not long after, her fifth novel ‘The Wedding Party, was published.

In The Wedding Party, magazine journalist Becky Hastings isn’t thrilled about her dad getting married again and her mother Helen has mixed feelings about seeing her ex-husband with a new wife. Then there’s Janie, the dippy wedding planner and Mel, the vicar and mother of two challenging teenagers with their own problems, to add to the mix.

Sophie told us more about the new book and its link to her own life.

Tell us more about how you married the best man from your first wedding.

Sophie: It is quite a story. I was introduced to the Best Man Sean, by my first husband just two months before we got married. I suppose that because I just saw him as a friend and not a potential boyfriend I was just myself and very natural and I did think that this was someone that I could really get on with.

He was someone I could speak to, and we were immediately on the same wavelength. But I didn’t see him as anything more than a friend for all those years - and I was married to my first husband for 27 years!

During those years, Sean would come round with a bevy of girlfriends on his arm and he was godfather to our children. Then my marriage broke up, through completely separate reasons, which was a shock to me to begin with. When I found myself on my own for three years, Sean was one of many friends who came round to help, we slowly grew together and that’s how it happened.

What does your ex-husband think about you marrying his best man?

Sophie: Oh – I don’t think I’d better talk about that! It’s a very delicate subject.

So, did this give you the inspiration to write The Wedding Party?

Sophie: Well, the weird thing is that I wrote The Wedding Party just before we decided to get married, because even though [the book has] only just come out, you write books about 18 months beforehand so it was life imitating art, that’s what’s so funny.

I got married a few months ago and it’s wonderful being married again, although it’s a little odd because my new husband lives in Newcastle and I’m down here so we commute up and down to see each other.

That must be tough?

Sophie: It’s a little strange – it’s not bad for a writer because writers need time on their own to write but it is a little odd and I really look forward to seeing him at weekends.ÌýÌý

In The Wedding Party, the story centres around Becky Hastings whose father announces he’s going to get married again doesn’t it?

Sophie: The story is told through four people’s viewpoints. There’s Becky, the groom’s grown-up daughter, who’s not very thrilled when her father gets married again at the ripe old age of 50 something. And children don’t like it when their parents get married again. My own children had mixed feelings even though they knew and loved Sean as their godfather, and when I was 19 my parents split up and married other people and I didn’t like it either.

Then there’s the ex-wife Helen, because even if you’re the one that leaves the marriage, you still have mixed feelings when your ex-husband gets married. Again, the really weird thing is the book starts with Helen, the ex-wife, hearing that her ex-husband’s going to get married again and my ex-husband is now also going to get married and I only found that out a few weeks ago, so it really is life imitating art!

Then we also get the story through the vicar who conducts the service who has her own problems with teenagers, and the wedding planner Janie, who’s a bit dipsy and doesn’t get the 24 hour clock quite right!

Everything goes wrong and that provides the humour. It is a light book and you can turn the pages very easily but it also tackles quite dark issues so I hope it’s a good mixture of humour and meaty issues.

This is your fifth book – are there more on the way?

Sophie: I’m working on the next one which is sort of in the same vein but the books aren’t actually linked together, they do stand alone. But what I like to do is mention a character in each book who was a character in a previous book, so people feel like they haven’t lost characters. Actually it’s for my benefit because I don’t want to feel I’ve lost the characters! I also write non-fiction so I’ve written a book called How to Write Short Stories and Get Published because that’s another thing I do as well.

Who will like this book?

Sophie: Well I’ve been told it will appeal to people of all ages, literally from age 18 through to grannies, I always have teenagers and grannies in my books! It will definitely appeal to the 30-50 something market and I think it will particularly appeal to any woman in their 40s or 50s who like me is getting married again for the second time. Because this is The Wedding Party for grown-ups, it’s when you’ve perhaps done it once before and the second time around you don’t want to make the same mistakes again.

Sophie also teaches creative writing to those interested in learning how to write a novel or a short story, and full details are available on her Website.