The wedding group (Taylor)

I haven't written too much about Elizabeth Taylor on this blog, mainly because I had worked my way through her oeuvre at the start of my interest in VMCs, which was six months before I began this blog. But also partly because I was hoping to blog about her all in one go when I had collected all of her books in the original green editions - I think the Elizabeth Taylor green VMCs are among the best as they often feature gorgeous illustrations of flowers. I've got about 2/3s of them, and although I could easily buy the rest from Amazon, I'm preferring to look out for them in bookshops - it spreads the monetary burden and adds to the thrill of the chase.

But Virago have been bringing out new editions of her books over the last couple of years - striking and colourful paperbacks, even if they don't quite rival the charm and elegance of their predecessors, and as Sophie from Virago kindly sends me the new VMC releases, I recieved the latest new one a couple of weeks ago - The wedding group. As I'm finding rereading books comforting at this dark and dismal time of year, it didn't go straight on the bookshelf but found its way into my handbag to be read.

It's a somewhat mournful read - the main character Cressidy rebels against the Catholic community of her upbringing, runs away to London and falls in love with the journalist David. It's not a happy-ever-after story, and Cressidy as the "heroine" isn't exactly always likeable - she starts off as seemingly well meaning, adventurous and sweet, but quickly becomes irritating and annoying. Nicola Beaumann, whose biography of Taylor is well-worth reading, says this is Taylor's weakest novel - I see her point but still found it well worth rereading.

Onto the covers - I own both the original green version and the newest Virago edition, but it has been published with another cover too!