A Vintage Affair was disappointing on a few levels. First, you have to know about vintage couture to know what Wolff's references to designers, periods and styles mean -- if only the book could have been illustrated. To get the education I was hoping for, I'd have needed to run parallel Google searches while reading. Second, no mystery -- I swear this was on the Omni New Mysteries site. Third, Wolff has a fairly blunt-force writing style, not much subtley though she had a handful of nice turns of phrase. The main character, Phoebe Swift, opens a vintage clothing shop in Blackheath, after serving a 12-year stint at Sothebys in their textiles division. She's compassionate, shrewd, and struggling under a cloud of self recrimination. Her other characters weren't unlikeable, but mostly one dimensional. Phoebe's mom is trying to recapture her youth; her dad is doing so with his young son; Annie, the shop assistant, assists and goes to acting auditions; Therese Bell has a guilty secret; romantic interest #1 Miles is led around by the nose by his bratty daughter, Roxy; romantic interest #2 Dan, is ridiculously fortunate in everything he touches; and prior romantic interest, Guy, is averse to taking responsibility for his actions but girly in his need to discuss and reach closure. I'm happy that was a quick easy read.
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