Wilfred Price

A historical fiction debut. Under the heady influence of a springtime picnic and vague notions of obligation, young undertaker Wilfred Price blurts out a marriage proposal to a woman he barely knows. Much to his consternation, she says yes. As Wilfred attempts to extricate himself from the situation, his betrothed's overbearing father presents further complications. And when Wilfred meets another woman he does wish to marry, a comedy of manners ensues. Set in rural Wales during the 1920s, Wendy Jones's charming first novel is a deceptive, subtly humorous entrance to the mores and social conventions of a world gone by.

Set in 1926, two years after the end of The Thoughts and Happenings of Wilfred Price, Purveyor of Superior Funerals, Wendy Jones The World is a Wedding finds Wilfred Price married to Flora Myfanwy and trying to be the perfect husband. His efforts only intensify when he learns that Flora is expecting. But something doesn't feel right to Flora: she doesn't feel at home. Meanwhile, Grace (to whom Wilfred was very briefly married before he met Flora) has fled Narberth for London, trying to escape what has happened to her and the secret she carries because of it. But secrets are not so easily escaped and Graces will affect Wilfred and Flora, too. A sophisticated comedy of manners, The World is a Wedding captures life in a small town in Wales and explores the complexities of marriage, motherhood, and masculinity and femininity with equal wit and insight.