Popular fiction is a wily beast, fraught with chatter about the next great novel and the books that simply must be read if one is to know what's what and who's hot on today's bookshelves. Sometimes it's just really nice to find a book that is well-written, straightforward and tells a relatively simple story. It ought to be engaging and just a touch distracting from everyday life. In The World is a Wedding Wendy Jones brings to life the tale of Wilfred Price – Purveyor of Superior Funerals – who lives in a small Welsh village. The first World War has just ended and Price is trying to figure out how to be a good newly-wed husband. There are touches of Dylan Thomas in the villagers' characters, with their whispered gossip and nightly drunkenness, but they're not a bad lot. Naturally, there's some tragedy and some joy, and good things that come out of bad situations. Thoroughly enjoyable.
