Book Review

Chips, Beans and Limousines
The Fantastic Diary of
Bathsheba Clarice de Trop

Syeda Mehruba Tanzin

THE first book in the soon to be released Bathsheba Clarice de Trop series, this book spreads over the life of its main character the pre-teen, self obsessed, spoilt Bathsheba Clarice de Trop. She is the snobby daughter of the millionaire authoress Mandy de Trop who has built an empire from the 'Fantastic Adventures of Bathsheba Clarice de Trop' series she writes. Bathsheba has spent all her life under the misconception that she herself has actually done everything her mother writes in the book about her while the fact is all that she shares with her true self and the heroine of her mother's books is the same name. She is taught at home, so she has no friends. She is an only child, so Bathsheba Clarice de Trop pretends she is beautiful, tall, slim and famous girl spy that her mother writes about.

The first half of the book looks into Bathsheba's everyday life. The reader gets a big insight into the life Bathsheba thinks she lives. She thinks she's a fabulous actress, and doesn't like to admit that anyone else can do something slightly better than her. Towards the end of the first half of the book the contrast between the 'real' and 'fictional' Bathsheba is eminent.

Bathsheba's father enters the picture in the second half of the book. She has been kept largely in the dark about her father who was completely missing from her life. But being the child that she is, she had always fantasized her father to be a spy for a top-secret organization. Her life undergoes a major upheaval when he comes back into her life. Eventually, with the help of her father and her nanny's niece, Bathsheba realizes that her life has never been as super-starry as she likes to pretend, and that maybe she should change the way she thinks about the rest of the world.

This is a really sweet book about a girl who thought she has everything realizing that she doesn't have very much at all. Although it's aimed at the 9-12 year olds would also enjoy reading this book.

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