READING FOR WEEK 14

Summary of Catherine Johnson,Mamma Mia! (1999)

Sophie Sheridan is a 20 year-old girl who has grown up on the Greek island of Kalokairi. Her mother, Donna, is British, and Sophie has a good relationship with her; but Sophie has never known who her father was. Sophie is in love with Sky, who is her own age, and they are about to get married.

Sophie has always felt “incomplete” not knowing who her father was. But one day, shortly before her wedding, she finds one of her mother’s old diaries and discovers that in the year Donna became pregnant with her she (Donna) was having a passionate love affair with Sam Carmichael, who was starting a career as an architect. However the affair had ended badly: Sam had in fact been engaged to someone else, and had abandoned Donna. Soon afterwards Donna had brief sexual relationships with two other men: Bill Andersson, who has since become a travel writer, and Harry Bright, who has since become a rich banker. Sophie realizes that any one of these three men could be her father, and without saying anything to Donna or Sky she invites all three to her wedding. They all accept.

Just before the wedding, Sophie’s two best friends, Ali and Lisa arrive on Kalokairi, and Sophie tells them about her “three dads.” Donna’s two best friends, Rosie and Tanya, also arrive: they and Donna used to be part of a pop group called Donna and the Dynamos. They are surprised that Sophie is getting married so young, and point out how different she is from Donna, who “never got married at all.” Finally the three men, Sam, Bill and Harry arrive.[1] Despite Sophie’s attempts to keep them hidden from Donna, Donna soon sees them, and is shocked and upset to find her three former lovers on the island the day before Sophie’s wedding. She orders them to leave. Donna now confesses to Rosie and Tanya that one of the three men must be Sophie’s father: but she doesn’t know which. She also confesses that she had told none of the three about her pregnancy and Sophie’s birth.

Sophie becomes friendly with Sam, Bill and Harry, but despite assuming that she would instantly recognize her father, she actually finds it impossible to work out which of them is her father. One by one, however, they all come to the conclusion that they are her father, and promise to “give her away” in the wedding on the following day. Sophie becomes so confused that she faints.

Meanwhile it has become clear that Sam still loves Donna. It is also clear that Bill and Rosie have romantic feelings for each other. And Harry discovers that he is gay when he meets a handsome young Greek man.

On the wedding day Sophie asks Donna to give her away, and Donna agrees. In the wedding chapel Donna stops the wedding service to announce that Sophie’s father is present. Sophie now explains that Sam, Bill and Harry are all there because she had invited them. Sam, Bill and Harry say that they could take a medical test to discover which of them really is Sophie’s father; however, they would rather not: they are happy to each be “a third” of her father. With this established, Sophie suddenly realizes that she doesn’t want to get married at such an early age, and that she and Sky should go away and travel (something Sky had already made clear he wanted to do). The wedding is cancelled.

Before the guest can leave, however, Sam says “why waste a good wedding?” and announces that he is divorced, and that he has always loved Donna: he asks Donna to marry him. After a slight hesitation, Donna says yes. The wedding celebration thus goes ahead, but it is Sam and Donna who are the bride and groom!At the wedding party, Rosie suggests to Bill that they should start a relationship. Bill is initially very reluctant to lose his independence, but eventually he agrees.

The story ends with Sophie and Sky leaving the island to go off on their travels.

[1] Notice how the story is constructed around three groups of three: Sophie-Ali-Lisa, Donna-Rosie-Tanya, and Sam-Bill-Harry.