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  • This is the first novel by Helen Fielding of Bridget Jones fame which she wrote in 1994. Surprisingly I never read until now. It is a satirical story full of both ridiculous and tragic events about what happens when celebrity aid comes to the help of famine relief in Africa. It is this angle that ma ... Continue

    This is the first novel by Helen Fielding of Bridget Jones fame which she wrote in 1994. Surprisingly I never read until now. It is a satirical story full of both ridiculous and tragic events about what happens when celebrity aid comes to the help of famine relief in Africa. It is this angle that makes this novel more than just another chick lit type novel. It is I read a subject Helen Fielding is interested in and she has worked in producing documentaries for relief for such famines.
    The heroine Rosie Richardson is living in London, working in publishing when we first meet her. After a disastrous relationship with Oliver Marchant a minor television celebrity who turns out to be cruel and manipulative she becomes disillusioned with her lifestyle. As a complete life change she heads for Africa to work as a Director of a refugee camp, for a charity. Four years later famine strikes and desperate for funds Rosie decides to use her celebrity acquaintances to raise emergency funds by organising a television appeal from the camp itself.
    Towards the end of the novel the descriptions of the human suffering are powerful and disturbing. It is fourteen years since this novel was written and sadly many parts of the world are still suffering in such a way, despite worldwide campaigns to try and reduce such incidents.
    I quote from the novel direct as I think it is an excellent reaction of the horrors as viewed by the aid workers and celebrities. ‘It was such a monumental horror that it felt as though nothing should be the same any more, nothing should continue: none of us should speak or do anything, the sun should not be moving across the sky and the wind should not blow. It did not seem possible that such a thing as this could be taking place without the world having to shudder to a halt and think again.’
    This might start out seeming like a lightweight novel but it certainly does not leave you feeling that way at the end!

    

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• ― Lindyloumac said on Sep 7, 2009 about the Paperback edition| Add your feedback

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  • Definitely not Bridget Jones. This is Fielding's debut novel and it seems to try a tad too hard - a perfect heroine with a heart of gold. Pffft.

    

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• ― screamingbanshee (aloi) said on Aug 13, 2008 | Add your feedback

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  • Not as good as the others of the same author.

    

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• ― Paula_R. said on Jul 21, 2008 | Add your feedback

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  • I loved this! I thought it was better then Bridget Jones. I could really relate to Rosie. I would recommend this friends looking for a fun read. There are some adult issues, but I think a mature high school reader would enjoy this book as well.

    

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• ― SheReads said on Mar 5, 2007 about the Hardcover edition| Add your feedback

Disillusioned with life as a literary publicist in London and sick of her hotshot TV presenter boyfriend, twenty-something Rosie Richardson decides to give up glitz for good deeds and escape to Africa to run a refugee camp. When famine strikes and a massive refugee influx threatens to overwhelm the camp, officials drag their heels. The only way to get food fast is to bring the celebrities first, so Rosie returns to London to organize a star-studded and risky emergency appeal. Deftly skewering the world of celebrity fundraising, Fielding's debut novel is both comic and thought-provoking.

Cause Celeb crackles with insights into the nature of fame, passion, and altruism in our time, all the while following an unlikely-but hugely likeable-heroine.

"A terrific, witty story" (USA Today)

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