The Magic Vodka Wardrobe: Book 4

Magic Vodka Wardrobe #4

by Sheila Patel

'Sharon Singh lives over the corner shop. Accountant by day, but at night she visits the magic wardrobe in her bedroom to do vodka shots with her sister. Fully equipped with disco ball, and a Sikh barman, the girls dance to forget their traditional lives.'The series continues with Shaz and Mother visiting Kirsty in Sydney. Meanwhile in the UK, Trace and her Aunt Sheila are stuck in the magical wardrobe waiting for the 'Beast from the East' to pass. Mr & Mrs Singh continue to run the corner shop, listen to their complaining customers and pray that by some miracle the girls land suitable husbands. We have our daily coverage of current affairs such as Brexit, the Cave Boys rescue, #O2Down, Moon landings and many more including the Christmas number one hit!The girls celebrate the Royal wedding and the World Cup with the local community including favourites such as Mad Martha, Tattoo Tony, Rajeev and Gypo Bob. The Gods of Leather even play the entire Quadrophenia album and drive the new landlord Dave up the wall with their ‘end of the world’ apocalypse theories.We also see Sheryl giving birth to baby Carrie and see her in one of Shaz's newly printed T-shirts saying, 'Pumping & Dumping -World’s Worst Mum'. Sheryl is also the karaoke queen during the Greatest Showman sing-along week. For fans of football, heavy metal, shoes, cocktails and current affairs. We even have a guest chapter by John Dolan, king of satire and internationally acclaimed Crime/Thriller writer.

65 pages, Paperback

Published October 30, 2019

About the author

Sheila Patel was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK. She is the youngest of 7 children. Born into a traditional Punjabi family she went on to study Engineering at Leeds Polytechnic and John Moores University. She later obtained an MBA from the University of Liverpool.

After working at British Aerospace for several years, she became interested in working with young people and ran a successful training company in Liverpool city centre for over ten years.

She discovered her passion for writing later in life, having spent magical moments with her huge family and lovely nieces. She saw and experienced many things growing up in 70's Britain. Comedy and humour played a huge role in her life and she loved all the funny things that Indians do daily, to adapt to the British way of life.

Sheila now lives on the Wirral with her Professor husband, two boys and a huge dog.
Sheila and her family spent 2006/2007 working in Wuxi, China on a project involving bamboo!
You can connect with Sheila on Twitter @vodkawardrobe

Reviews

[C.A. A. Powell]

I read this last night and this morning. It is the usual gut-busting laugh with a tantalising comical mix of characters on a local estate around the Manchester or Liverpool area. Mad Martha is set for a surprise visit. I will not divulge from who. The Gods of Leather are still doing their ear-blasting renditions in the Dog and Drum. (We Built This City on Sausage Rolls) Among other such rock ballads. Gypo Bob and his leisurely 3 pm lie in. Bachittar the hairy barman of the magic wardrobe thinking he is an upgraded version of Jacob Marley. The riot goes on through the year of 2018 with World Cup fever and hiding Croatians. Liverpool Euro fever and Theresa May and Euro elections bringing the times to all the crazy characters and the readers - the seasoned Vodka Wardrobe readers with their seat belts fastened. Fast-paced comedy on naughty smarties. lol.

[Lindabella Holland]

Couldnt wait for the 4th book, I'm completely hooked. Always stuns me how Sheila can come up with crazy, but relevant stories. She has me laughing out loud, which gets me some very strange looks when im reading in public places. She should have a warning at the beginning of the book. Please hurry up and write your 5th book Sheila, I need my vodka fix.

[Coco.V]

🎁 FREE on Amazon today (3/8/2020)! 🎁

[Maneesha]

Could not put this book down! Lots of giggles reading about Aunt Shiela and her nieces most recent Voddy filled antics!

Book 4 is full of humour and my favourite chuckle was reading about skinny Rita helping Lady Fatima run "Wifey" classes down the local temple!

Can not wait to hear where the vodka wardrobe will take us in Book 5 of this series.

A recommended read for page after page of giggles!

[Sonia]

Grab your Plada handbag, comb your scouse brows and bring your shot glasses. We’re going back to the vodka wardrobe!!

The wardrobe nutters are back for more alcohol fuelled bad behaviour in the latest instalment. Rajeev is learning how to not be a bastard on his wifey course whilst Shaz is getting plastered on her holiday down under.

In a nutshell it’s ginger beards, world cup fever, bus stop births, sausage rolls, avengers and something about a pigeon and a goldfish. Just read it, it’s great!!

Book 4 is fun, fast paced and nonstop laughs. Fingers crossed for a book 5!

[Veronica Barton]

The ladies are at it again in this latest Magic Vodka Wardrobe short story from Author Sheila Patel. A trip down under, a run-in with the James Bond fan club, a targeted treasure hunter, royal wedding mania, World Cup fever...as the months roll by, the zany antics in the wardrobe and neighborhood never end (nor do the cocktails)! Author Patel keeps the witticisms coming as we're updated on current events as seen through the blurry eyes of the gals, whether its the weather (The Beast from the East), holidays, sports, heroic rescues, O2 outages, Brexit, birthdays and births--nothing manages to escape the attention (or commentary) of these ladies!

Book 4 in the series is a delight to read, filled with loads of laughs and witty humor page after page. We even get a special chapter from guest author, John Dolan in this read, adding to the shenanigans. I always love coming back to The Magic Vodka Wardrobe to relax and unwind--a very fun tale sure to make your Holidays brighter, #Cheers!

[Brenda Guiton]

Yet more hilarious antics from the Vodka Wardrobe clan and their colourful friends in Bradford. It starts with Shaz who is in Sydney with her mother, visiting her eldest sister, Kirsty. The running of the shop has been left in Tracey’s hands, along with nutty aunt Sheila. They communicate via a large screen TV where Trace keeps Shaz posted on all that’s happening with the madcap activities.
This is book 4 in the series and Sheila Patel is as entertaining as ever, coming up with new ideas that never fail to amuse. It’s full of wit, for example: this passage comes after the birth of Sheryl’s baby...
‘Sheryl has been expressing milk like a dairy cow; the new machine constantly telling her to wait 2 hours before all the alcohol was out of her system.’
Bacchitar remains one of my favourite characters and I love the idea of the glitter ball, on the magic wardrobe’s dance floor as he spins the appropriate records.
The author has cleverly woven the story around current affairs, such as the Royal Wedding, The Thai Cave Rescue, World Cup fever and celebrations to mark the 50th year since the moon landings.
If you haven’t read any of these highly entertaining books, I urge you to give them a try. If, like me, you are an avid fan already, I hope you’ll enjoy book 4 as much as I did.

[Anita Dow]

"When life throws you a pigeon you sometimes get a goldfish." This line from one of the later chapters just sums up this crazy sitcom, with its vibrant, larger than life characters. If you're a fan of this series you won't be disappointed. You'll recall all those big, topical world events as they are featured in the story, such as the Beast from the East, the Royal Wedding and the World Cup. The way Sheila Patel weaves them into the lives of her British Asian community somewhere 'up north' really showcases her gift for comedy writing and her comic timing. And, as always, you get an iconic sing-along classic track to round off each chapter. The inclusion of a guest-written chapter is a novel idea that I thought really worked. There are some subtle pearls of wisdom there too, neatly wrapped up in some quirky one-liners. I found this book a quick, easy read, as good as binge watching a few Gavin and Stacey episodes and just as much fun.

[John Dolan]

Trace, Shaz, Aunt Sheila and all the other delinquents return in another inspired (and alcohol-fueled) installment of, as I like to term it, Narnia on Acid. Sheila Patel is a gifted comic writer in the tradition of Jerome K Jerome - if Jerome had downed several large ones and wasn't so posh. If you haven't read any of the Vodka books, you really should, you know. Usually, I would recommend that you start with the first one in the series, but here it doesn't matter - as anarchy really has no place to begin. So, get out your dancing shoes, spin the glitter-ball, and plug in the karaoke machine. It's going to be a wild evening.

[Tracy]

Just as ridiculous and relevant as the 1st 3 books, Sheila Patel and her family and friends manage to get through another year in tact, surviving Royal weddings and world cups, engagements and the loss of Ironman . This is a perfect laugh out loud book to read in one sitting, designed to brighten up your day and answer some of those questions you didn't know you needed to ask. For example - why don't India have a football team in the world Cup? This is a peek inside the workings of an Indian family living and assimilating to life in Bradford, England and the ladies who survive it by drinking voddie in a magic wardrobe, dressed as Elton John and singing B-b-b-Bennie and the Jets.

Fingers crossed there will be a book 5.

[Russell .]

The ladies are back at it! Once again, Shaz and crew takes the reader a world wind of crazy events like royal weddings, down under, the World Cup just to name a few. All the while, meeting up in the bar and webcast to have plethora amounts of vodka. Seriously, this book had me rolling at times. The James Bond club is hilarious! Patel’s crisp brilliant writing offers a multitude of satirist political humor as she points out some peculiar social norms. In a way, the author holds a mirror to the world and asks if they can really see the prevailing obscurity. So loved this book! Had to have a Bloody Mary after I complete it…yeesh the hangover was surreal! Cheers!

[Paul]

The perfect remedy for lockdown blues, The Magic Vodka Wardrobe series whisked me away into a world of crazy fun rather than a world of crazy chaos. Sheila Patel (herself being the queen of bonkers) transcribes perfectly her acute observations into this hysterically funny saga which left me seriously considering the practicalities of building a vodka bar in my own wardrobe!
Forget Narnia, what we need is a vodka bar and glitterball in our wardrobes. Long live Shaz, Trace and Sheila, the coolest aunt in the world.

[Bernadette]

I must admit that I started with Book 4, so I did not have all the background of the characters yet (I have since started reading Book 1 so I have a clearer understanding now)

I simply cannot wait to read all the rest!

These books are beautifully written, riveting, and extremely funny! I highly recommend getting stuck into this Magic Wardrobe leading to a wonderful world of fun, laughter, mishaps,.. and, of course, the voddy's. And there's a thrash metal band in there too!

If you enjoy British humour, you have to read The Magic Vodka Wardrobe. You will not be disappointed :)

[Patricia Furstenberg]

The Magic Vodka Wardrobe book series is like a Narnia Cocktail. You start with one, anyone, and can't stop.

I read the first book in the series and I had the best time. It is hilarious and it really helped me forget about everything else.

I enjoyed the mix of Royal wedding, World Cup and Brexit. Patel's humor at its best!

Vodka Wardrobe book series are perfect to read during a voyage, at the beach or to fight the back to work blues.

Do yourself a favour and read it. You won't regret it.

[Stephen Ainley]

Should have probably started at the beginning, but I read 3rd book and now this. A short book but as usual lots going on. Had me laughing from beginning to end with its colourful characters and great one-liners. Lots of references to real events, like the Royal Wedding and the Sikh (Beast) from the East, running through it. Great fun and highly recommended, plus, any mention of Quadrophenia is always a bonus.

[Iris Chacon]

Like a screwball comedy from the golden age of movies

This short tale of multicultural neighborhood life is a rollicking series of laughable moments. Some of the humorous bits occurs so quickly and so close together that one nearly misses them. Sheila Patel weaves together a cast of characters from different cultures in subtle and insightful ways, and always with a smile.

[Donald Bruce]

Our "Sheila Patel!" Has Done It Again! W/ Booke Number "4!" Another Five Star W/ "Amazon/Kindle!" moste Folke's Don't Know Hoe Harde It Is To Write Comedy! Take's "Big Talent! Make A Great ChristMas Gift! "Thanke's Don Johnson!"

[S.A. Krishnan]

When life throws a pigeon, you sometimes a goldfish.

The line just about sums up the entire story. Lovely stories, Quirky characters and people who like the vodka wardrobe series would definitely love this. Enjoyable read.

[Sudesna Ghosh]

This series has been all about the fun. Quirky characters, crazy humor from page one -- this book is a must read for a pick me up during the week or on a boring weekend. I hope there's a book 5 soon!

[Soulla Christodoulou]

Humour so uncannily close to reality my sides hurt from laughing

A wonderful short story made up of snippets of real life - from The Royal Wedding to World Cup and Euro footy events, Moon Landings and even Brexit. The humour is absolutely brilliant and the one liners kept me chuckling...I read this in one sitting...a fabulous Sunday read with a kaleidoscope of characters who are larger than life yet equally realistic in their antics and witty dialogue. Thank you Sheila!

[Cheryl Butler]

The subtle, dry humour throughout this book is refreshing, and yet it's still remarkably realistic, sometimes painfully so!

[Jan Jones]

Have been a fan of these books since I very first discovered them a couple of years ago and I think this is the best one yet. They are the maddest group of characters, but you find yourself getting very fond of them and wishing them well. Sheila is a perceptive observer of people, their culture and their habits!! She has almost taken up where Shameless left off.
They are all very funny books but this is a real laugh out loud.