The Mrs Marriage Project

The Mrs Marriage Project
Pauline Fisk
London, Faber & Faber, 2005, 260p

After reading so many drama and fantasy novels, I thought it would make a chance to read something a little more feminine. 

The Mrs Marriage Project is exactly that. Elin decides her life ambition is to get married. She sets aside her GCSEs and focuses upon researching married life, aiming to get married on her 16th birthday, with or without her parent's permission. 

She investigates men - what they want and how she can nab one; she looks at case studies of couples around her, like her unmarried parents; she tries to work out how she can come across as more mature, as this seems the key to becoming a woman. 

Many times, I despaired for Elin. So naive in her deturmination, she blocks people out of her life - she convinces herself that she can't tell her friends or family about this mad ambition, because they will be angry, and they won't understand. She spirals out of control, taking refuge with online friendships and fantasy romances.

This novel addresses the problem that many young girls face through their teenage years - that desire to be loved. But Fisk shows us that love is not just about boys and dates and kissing. Love is everywhere, in our relationships with our families and our friends, and even with kind strangers (though not the sort you meet on the Internet).