Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns opens with a Burberry umbrella and Prada pumps but when it comes to fashion, it doesn’t go further down the high street than that. Lauren Weisberger, who hit the jackpot with David Frankel’s adaptation of The Devil Wears Prada, proves that it is the movie that pushed the book and not the other way around. Weisberger struggles to make the sequel work.

From the horrors of high fashion, the author shifts gears into telling a story of marriage and motherhood. Dealing now with post-natal depression (instead of high-heel hangovers), Weisberger’s protagonist Andrea Sach’s professional frustration of working for a demanding, insufferable boss at Runway is replaced by the emotional roller-coaster of life as a wife and mother. If The Devil Wears Prada was an insight into the operations and turbulences of working at a fashion magazine then Revenge Wears Prada reduces the story to the unfortunate proportions of a family drama. If the first book made for a deliciously stylised film then the sequel makes for a story better suited to an Indian or Turkish soap, nothing more. And that isn’t much, even to begin with.

Ten years have passed since Andrea Sachs threw her phone into a fountain at Paris Fashion Week, leaving her boss high and dry without a personal assistant. She has, since then, teamed up with her former colleague Emily Charlton and is running The Plunge, a highly successful magazine that covers celebrity weddings, including her own. Since her camaraderie with ‘Em’ ended on a cold note, we are left to wonder how it transformed into a business venture and successful partnership.

It has also been 10 years since Andrea broke up with the love of her life — Alex Fineman — and has since then moved up in society. The story opens with her wedding-in-progress as she is now marrying society darling Max Harrison, who she met at a party at the Hamptons. In a nutshell, her life now appears to have hit perfection. You would think she would have got over the intimidation of her first job. But not quite. As it turns out, Andrea is frozen in time. She still has Miranda nightmares and bumping into her with Valentino at a Yacht Party leaves her palms sweating and her heart racing.

This time, Miranda Priestley isn’t all that Andrea has to worry about. Her bridal jitters transform to deathly chills as she uncovers a disturbing letter in her husband-to-be’s pocket. You’d think that she — being a modern / emancipated woman — would confront him immediately, but no, she sits on it and broods. Page after page turns with her suspicions and insecurities mounting, which one finds increasingly hard to attribute to a successful and mature woman. It’s hard to believe and tiring to have to read.

Andy (as she is now referred to throughout the book) is more 28 than 18, but she’s soppy and whiny enough to mentally pass off as an annoying eight-year-old. To top up her personal woes, The Plunge is doing so well (you’d think that was a good thing!) that Miranda Priestley and Elias Clark bid to buy it off Andy and Emily’s hands. Only Andy isn’t selling. Despite the million-dollar deal in the offing, she’s unwilling to step into contract with Priestley since the deal includes a one-year handing-over period in which she’d have to work with her. Yes, she’s that scarred.

There is a slip of a story to be found under the thick guise of histrionics, mother-in-law issues, baby-gushes and maternity weight but Revenge Wears Prada is a title that shifts from the fashion to the maternity/motherhood section. As an independent ‘chick-lit’ it would merit space between Sweet Valley High and Mills and Boon but as sequel to a best-selling original novel, it’s impossible not to compare and comparison only leads to disappointment.

The Devil Wears Prada was no great piece of literature. But it was intriguing in its portrayal of Miranda Priestley, fashioned around Vogue editor Anna Wintour. The word ‘devil’ invokes images of flying fur coats, clicking heels, Botoxed brows and steely glares. The Devil Wears Prada’s USP was the insight to a fashion magazine’s operations, style departments and the lifestyles of the rich and famous. In Revenge Wears Prada, not only does that change but the main character — Miranda Priestley — is almost a guest appearance. There isn’t enough of her in this story and you, as the reader, are left with the feeling that you’re the one who has been avenged.

Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns
(NOVEL)
By Lauren Weisberger
Harper Collins, US
ISBN 1439136637
400pp.