Before We Were Thirty

by Katie Agnew

This magical tale of love and friendship centres around the tiny, but exclusive, village of Combe which is situated six miles from Bath and largely inhabited by ageing millionaires who enjoy hunting, shooting, fishing, bitching about each other and playing bridge. In other words the village is not so much a sleepy backwater (as the estate agent calls it) but is actually in a coma. In this village live four frustrated young women - RACHEL (whose marriage is in crisis as she tries to cope with motherhood and country life after leaving her glamorous London PR job), HARRIET (bright, bitchy, aristocratic supermodel who once ruled the catwalk in the early nineties but now has no outlet for her talents), BIANCA (pretty, sunshiney, blonde ex-glamour model who married an eighties pop legend, and isn't as dumb as people assume she is) and elusive Summer (single mother, with a hippy wardrobe who keeps herself to herself, has no money and a big secret). When a sexy, enigmatic young millionaire, Jack, arrives in Combe and throws a massive party for all the villagers, everything starts to change. Rumours abound - Where did he come from? What does he do? How did he make his money? Drugs? Human trafficking? Prostitution? The villagers are intrigued, and the four young women are particularly drawn to him, and to each other, despite their differences. And he, in turn, transforms their lives...

Paperback

First published October 1, 2004

About the author

Katie Agnew was born in Edinburgh in 1972 and spent her childhood in Lasswade. She studied English at Aberdeen University and then journalism at City University in London. Her first job was as features writer on 19 magazine. Since then, she has written articles, celebrity interviews and columns for many magazines and newspapers including the Evening Standard, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire and the Daily Mail. Until last year she worked as features editor on Marie Claire magazine. Katie now lives in Bath with her husband, John Latimer and their baby, Olivia.

Reviews

[Kerrie McCormack]

I absolutely loved this book. I read Katie Agnew when I was a teenager and always loved her, so picking this up brought back a lovely sense of nostalgia!

I became so invested in the characters, even though, honestly, some of them were not particularly likeable. There are definitely some very rich, spoilt characters in this story, and at times I found myself getting quite frustrated with them. But Katie writes them so brilliantly that I actually found myself feeling sorry for them too. You get underneath their behaviour and start to understand them, which I really loved.

The whole book felt like being dropped into a little English village. Being from the UK myself and growing up in a village, I loved that sense of familiarity - the closeness of the community, everyone knowing everyone, the relationships, the gossip and that feeling that nothing really stays private for long! 😂

It’s not a particularly deep or heavy read, but that’s exactly what I enjoyed about it. It was easy! I just wanted to keep reading and find out what happened to everyone.

Sometimes you just need a book that pulls you into its world and makes you genuinely care about the characters, and this did exactly that for me.

[Jane Woodcock]

A good light hearted read. A mix of humour and heart break. Good characters, and generally a nice feel good ending.

[Belinda]

Fun read with a few surprises that had been carefully planned and hinted at throughout.

[Danielle]

lmfao yikes. no wonder we all had eating disorders in the 2000s.

[Sheena Raye]

so dramatic and chaotic and I'm here for it. there's no remarkable scene in the book but the drama is what gets me lmao

[Dark-Draco]

Rachel and her husband, Simon, dream of a little cottage out in the country and when he gets his promotion, they finally fulfill that dream. But Rachel finds out she is pregnant and those plans change. Left alone during the week while Simon works in London, she feelslonely and trapped with her new born son. Only by making friends with the three outher women in the village of her own age, does she start to find a life again. But the arrival of a mysterious, handsome millionaire, all their lifes are set to change.To be honest, I didn't finish the book. Not because I particulary didn't like it. The bit I read was well-written, great characters and the start of a good plot, but by about chapter 6, I realised that I didn't have to read on to find out what happened next as the story has been done many times before.

[Glossybook Reviews]

As a story, I quite enjoyed this book. It kept me interested all the way through and there's a mix of humour and serious, darker stuff, which, in this case, works.

One little gripe I have however, is that the characters, who are all supposed to be 29, come across as much older than that. They're all buying country cottages, having families and being housewives, and this doesn't seem very realistic for the average late-twenty-something. I read this at 25, yet I still thought they sounded to be more like mid to late thirties than twenties. Ah, well.

Other than this, it's a good book.

[Abigail Mary]

LIFE STARTS AT THIRTY?This book was given by my cousin from London. I didn't really make a big deal of it because of its title(I'm still sixteen)until one day I found myself reading it. And the next thing I knew I was already into it. Really, it feels like you already want to grow old and be twenty-nine so that you could experience the bitter-sweet of life. It's definitely a must-read book!

[Catsalive]

http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/6...

I enjoyed this. Mostly lighthearted with some seriousness in the form of infidelity, drug-taking & human-trafficking, mostly as an adjunct to the tale & not dwelt upon. I do think Jack & Summer showed a lack of integrity over his career, but otherwise the characters are likeable & a little quirky. An entertaining romance, & not to be taken seriously.

[Mary]

I have limited book selection over here. This book was real crap, but I couldn't put it down