Filthy Rich

by Wendy Holden

'A modern day Jilly Cooper' Glamour. Another fabulous novel from bestselling author WENDY HOLDEN. For fans of MARRYING UP. When Mary meets Monty, heir to a stately pile, happiness seems assured. But as the mansion crumbles, passion wanes along with the heating. Banker's wife Beth swaps Notting Hill for weekends at a bijou cottage. They only offered a smidgeon over the asking price. So why don't the locals like them? Eco-harridan Morag is the terror of the village, with her objections to everyone and everything. Ü ber -WAG Alexandra needs a footballer's mansion and fast. There must be a Hello! -tastic country pile with spa, champagne bar and parking for six SUVs somewhere ? Ambitions clash when the village launches an allotment project and no one escapes the bitter struggle over sex, power and money which threatens to blight more than everyone's carrots.

Genres: Chick Lit, Fiction, Romance, Contemporary Romance

608 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Wendy Holden grew up in Yorkshire, and studied English at Girton College, Cambridge. She worked in magazines for many years before joining Tatler's in 1997 as deputy editor, and later moved to the Mail on Sunday’s You magazine, which she left in 2000 to concentrate on writing. She regularly writes features for newspapers and magazines on a range of social, topical and lifestyle subjects and is also a television and radio contributor.

She has now published ten novels, Gallery Girl, Beautiful People, Bad Heir Day, Pastures Nouveaux, Fame Fatale, Azur Like It, The Wives of Bath, The School for Husbands, Filthy Rich, Farm Fatale, Gossip Hound, Simply Divine, all top 10 bestsellers.

Holden is married, and lives in England with her family.

Reviews

[Sidrah Anum · Rating 1 out of 5]

I bought this book in 2014 when I used to love chick lits. Bringing it home, I started reading it. Somehow, it lost my interest after 25 pages.
Fast forward to 2 years later, I picked this book up again because I never leave a book in the middle, no matter how difficult it turns out to be! Well, it lost me again after 75 pages.
Fast forward to another 2 years later, well this time it was 150 pages only.
This time I picked it up a few days ago and planned on getting done with it finally, because I had to pack my things up in order to move out of country and this book had to go with the packed stuff left behind and I was unable to let it go unread!
I must admit I didn't get along with this book very well.
It was such a slow story, the plot didn't kick up until after page 400 and fell down again around 450 something!
The writer tried her best to create funny situations but the unnecessary details spoiled the fun of such scenes!
One of the biggest faults? The characters were overloaded.
There were countless number of new names that just kept on popping up and getting mixed up with already established story lines, it just became impossible to keep track of people and what they were up to.
Everything was utter confusion!
The writing was just okay! It felt like the author was trying too hard to be funny!
Total wastage of time and energy.
One star only!

[Brunelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was a huge disappointment. At first I was intrigued by the cover, the summary and the title. I thought it would've been like Confessions of a Shopaholic. But, it totally wasn't.
You expect the characters to be rich and glamorous based on the title but they're not, well very few are. And, they live in a crappy village in England. But I'm guessing the title has to do with the fact that they found gold in one of the allotments because FILTHY rich may refer to the ground. Also, I thought that there were way too many narrators. The majority of the characters were narrators at one point and that made it really confusing and hard for me to understand the story.
In the end I kind of just rushed my way through the book because I wanted to finish it as fast as possible. I didn't like it at all, especially the ending.

[Jayne Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always avoided Wendy Holden's books, believing they were the literary equivalent of a cream puff, whereas I would prefer something a bit more filling, and maybe with a bitter aftertaste......but I was lent this one by someone who recommended it, so I read it. I was pleasantly surprised - I was gripped right to the end, there were some genuine laugh-out-loud moments, and even though it was predictable in places not quite everything worked out as expected (thinking of the full-moon incident halfway through.....). It would have been a five star but for the over-wordiness of some of the passages, where a sharper satirist would have made their point using half as many keystrokes, not to mention some of the crude grammar. But presumably the editor wanted a nice fat book so it stayed in! Overall, a good read.

[Tanya D · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book was pretty horrible, actually. I was reading it as quickly as possible to simply get through it and move on. The premise was interesting enough- A bunch of uber rich people, living in a rural community, and how they interact with each other. But there was no character development, no plot development, and everything seemed very contrived and fake. I love the idea, it had the makings of a great novel, but the execution was severely lacking.

[✶ · Rating 1 out of 5]

wendy holden never attempt to write again

[Hannah Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why I Read This Book
My Mum gave me a physical copy of this book years ago and I just never got around to reading it. Then, I went to the library and got set up to use audiobooks. My commute to work isn't too long so I've listened to this book when I've been out with the dogs, cleaning, waiting at appointments. Whenever I've had a spare moment I have been submerged in this story!
The Blurb
Shire Bliss? When romantic Mary meets Monty, handsome heir to a stately pile, hapiness seems assured. But as the mansion crumbles, passion wanes. 
Banker's wife Beth swaps Notting Hill for weekends at a bijou cottage, They only offered a smidgeon over the asking price. So why don't the locals like them?
Eco-hag Morag is the terror of the village. She hates incomers, four-wheel drives, slug pellets and anyone between her and absolute power. 
Uber-WAG Alexandra needs a footballer's mansion - fast. There must be a Hello!-tastic place with pool, gym, champagne bar and helipad somewhere? 
When these four face each other n a struggle over sex, power and money - not to mention allotments - village life is never the same again.
My Thoughts
I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It was an easy book to feel involved in and the characters were all relatively relate-able.

[Celia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, what can you expect from a book called "Filthy Rich", one that's covered in reviews from Cleo and Cosmopolitan screaming about how astoundingly witty it is? Not very much. Not a book that's astoundingly witty, at any rate.

A group of cardboard caricatures, centered around a small English village, fight about some allotments, and have no significant things happen to them whatsoever. I finished it - it wasn't mind numbingly dull - but there wasn't anything worth remembering about it either.

[JackieB · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a light enjoyable read. It was mainly a comedy but there were some more serious themes which weren't dwelt on but they gave it some depth and made it a more satisfying read than if it was just written to amuse. Parts of the plot were predictable but not much; on the whole there were a lot more surprises in the plot than predictable parts. I might re-read this if I need cheering up (I have to really like a book before I'd even think about re-reading it - too many new books out there to do a lot of re-reading).

[Precious Sagbodje · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had such fun reading this! I usually read thrillers and this book was supposed to just help pass the time but I found myself loving it more and more. I occasionally roared with laughter too.... looking forward to reading more!

[Anna Louise · Rating 2 out of 5]

It wasn't awful but if I could have the time back I wouldn't invest it into this book. The multiple storylines aren't well written, and the drama added in didn't fit with the rest of the story and seemed like a bad filler.

[Kelly Finn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant and light hearted read. It’s the first Wendy Holden book I’ve read, I’ll be sure to source some more!

[Shaily · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slow. Not exciting. Characters do not have depth.

[Jennifer Antulov · Rating 1 out of 5]

Implausible tale with clichéd situations and stereotypical characters.

[Juhi Tiwari · Rating 3 out of 5]

According to me the book was too descriptive of the surrounding or too deep description of the characters in the book. There were too many characters as well. One thing that annoyed me was while reading story of one character in one chapter suddenly story of some other character would start. The story was good but it had too many unnecessary detail. If only the length of the book was half i would have enjoyed it. I was actually expecting more from Mary and Montys story it could have been so interesting. Plus Catherines and Philips story also! The stories seemed to end so soon without any solid twist or turns. If only instead of dedicating chapters and chapters on describing how the Village looked from every characters point of view, stories could have been made more interesting. The stories start slow pick up some pace and then falls flat.

[Smitha Vasudevan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The little village of Allsthrop was living its idyllic life before the great village rush. Enter Beth, wife of millionaire Benny, intent on creating the idyllic village retreat, Morag the eco warrior, determined to thwart the capitalists, Alexandra, aspiring A lister football wife, wanting to create her dream mansion right here. A dreamy old mansion with Mary and Monty, watching it crumble around her. Catharine, the new headmistress of the local Primary is determined to make a difference, Philip the lawyer is trying to live out the rest of his days after losing his soulmate, and Sam the difficult child is determined not to assimilate. The cast is set for the long drama.

[Rory · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book. I listened on audio and it was great background.

There were some romance bits, but luckily they were not the main story.

The characters were different to each other, interesting and good. I liked the little story lines that overlapped and were mainly relating to the allotments.

I like Wendy's books but this is one of her best.

[Delyth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this a long time ago, I had forgotten the title but I had just seen the cover on someone's post and was like thats it!

[Eva · Rating 2 out of 5]

this book was at least 100 pages too long, the allotment action from the blurb didnt kick off until page 150 or thereabouts.
also some characters were super over the top...

[Terry · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fast-paced, fun read.

[Jade · Rating 2 out of 5]

An average read for this type of rom com book, which took a while to get going and then (probably because of the 1 million pages already filled with getting there) a rushed ending. Some of the story lines where also very unpleasant to me - for instance the couple that are very much in love, he has an affair, she decides never to forgive him, but then realises that she's pregnant so all's okay and they get back together!?!?!?!

[Best Crime Books & More · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read nearly all of Wendy Holdens books and this one was as good as the last. The charachters she creates are hilarious (especially the eco-goddess Morag). It's set in Allsop and descibes the lives of Morag, Catherine (the local Headteacher, Phillip (the local solicitor) who tragically lost his wife, Alexandra the footballers gorlfriend and Mary and Monty who live in a crumbling Manor House. It's an eclectic mix that works well and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Mom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great British farce set in small village full of characters including a few London imports such as the Paris HIltonish footballer's girlfriend looking for a really big house, transplanted American couple, a 60s hippy contingent, the local school marm, swarmy vicar, poor and shabby Lord of the Manor, widowed lawyer and orphan waif.

[Redfox5 · Rating 5 out of 5]

love it when after reading a couple of serious books you come back to a chick lit. It's great becuase I usally forget just how much I love them and this one was no exception. Kept me hooked till the last page. And even tho chick lit books all seem to follow the same plot, this does not spoil my enjoyment of them. Loved it!

[Vivian Wang · Rating 2 out of 5]

Long and lingering on too many useless and boring details, it was a pain to read. I only kept reading to know what happened in the end. The occasional good joke kept you breathing but don't hold your breath waiting for it. It's a suffocating and bizarre story that makes me wonder why I picked it up in the first place.

[Monyta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite it not being a great novel, one of its characters, headmistress Catherine, has really had an impact on how I see state education. I felt like I could completely identify myself with her and I ended up having a 'crush' on this book.

[Dilys Myhill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Allsop a small village in the midlands has it all, stately home with heir, banker, eco warrior, & wag. All are thrown together when they all get allotments. This is a great fun read. Giggles galore a recommended holiday read.

[Angela Kitchen · Rating 4 out of 5]

feel good novel.

[Donna · Rating 2 out of 5]

i'm half way through the book and i can not stand it.The characters are to O.T.T and the storyline is to unrealistic.i will not bother with reading the rest of it.

[Braeby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to get into, but once I did, it was fun. I shouldn't be surprised, it IS Wendy Holdon after all.

[Jane Botten · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hilarious happy book