The successor to Olivia Goldsmith's blend of frothy fare, Kevin Kwan delivers another vapid yet entertaining slice of high-society soap opera that plumbs the annals of English country life.

The characters are flat - from the snobbish lady of the manor to her ludicrously stereotypical kids to the girl next door with a heart of gold - the plots are outlandish and for such normally steamy fare, Lies and Weddings is decidedly unerotic (save for one bar encounter so wincingly bad it may make the Bad Sex Writing shortlist).

Despite all this, it is entertaining and pacy enough as a future beach read, leaning into its Shirley Conran-esque camp full tilt. Kwan never seems to be able to resolve his conflict over the so-called moneyed elite - can you mock a class of shallow folks and yet still venerate their lifestyles? - but in a book full of volcanoes, gurus, mysterious pasts, shrooms trips, and enough absurdly expensive fashion to sink a cruise liner, maybe just camp is just fine.