Author:Marjorie Leet Ford
A romantic comedy with a delightfully biting literary edge, it's the story of Melissa, a sharp-eyed American abroad. Fired by her San Francisco ad agency, she cancels her wedding but soon regrets her next impulsive move - across the Atlantic, as au pair to a minorly aristocratic British family, with the mother from hell, an ineffectual, sweet-natured father, and three children, one of them deaf.
From freezing farmhouses and island castles in Scotland, to a faded house at a smart London address, Melissa observes the natives in their classic habitats, with their bizarre manners and surprisingly gorgeous, death-defying food. Urged to 'try to speak as we do' she resists the effete charm of the British bourgeoisie but succumbs to the lure of lemon shortbread, and the sexy appeal of a lean and hungry Englishman.
I loved this book... I found myself smiling all the way through... a lovely novel
—— Margaret ForsterUtterly delightful
—— HelloA beguiling first novel
—— Kirkus ReviewsA charming first novel
—— BooklistThis is a fresh, gleefully savage take on the theme of the innocent abroad... A hilarious send-up of its whole cast of characters, British and American
—— Cyra McFaddenFantastic, bold, colourful, assured and wonderful writing - and what a story! An outstanding book, magical, beautiful with writing as crisp and fine and breathtaking as a Russian winter
—— Manda Scott, author of the Boudica trilogyLuxuriant... baroque and intimate, worldly and domestic, wildly strange and soulfully familiar
—— Washington PostA whirlwind saga of intrigue, shifting allegiances and illicit liaisons, this engrossing story really captures the imagination
—— Choice MagazineA wonderfully majestic and evocative tale of 18th century Russia at a key moment in history
—— Candis MagazineAn intensely written, intensely felt saga of the early years that shaped the 18th century's famous czarina, Catherine the Great. Her survival in the treachery of the Russian court was an amazing feat, and Eva Stachniak captures the fluidity and steeliness that propelled Catherine from a lowly German duchess to one of the towering figures of the century
—— Karleen Koen, author of Through a Glass DarklyA riveting reconstruction of a crucial era in Russian history… shows iconic figures of the period as real people
—— BBC History MagazineCovering the twenty years that turned Catherine the Great from a young bride on approval to the legendary Empress of Russia, Eva Stachniak's novel gives a magical insight into the hopes and fears that haunted the corridors of the St Petersburg palace. It brings alive the very tastes and textures of the mid-eighteenth century
—— Sarah Gristwood, author of Arbella and The Girl in the MirrorAn intimate portrait of 18th century girl-power
—— IndependentA wry moral tale exploring the little evasions and compromises of everyday life. Translator Agnes Scott does justice to Solstad’s measured voice
—— Emma Hagestadt , IndependentThis short-but-striking novel quickly reveals itself to be…crime fiction, yes, but also a subtle and deeply introspective consideration of the inertia of lonely middle-age, its philosophy existentialist in the manner of Jean Paul Sartre, Ingmar Bergman and certain novels of Georges Simenon. The result is a highly complex and accomplished work
—— Billy O'Callaghan , Irish ExaminerIntriguing tale… Solstad expertly navigates the bizarre mind of a clever but lonely man locked in an existentialist nightmare
—— TelegraphThis is no straightforward crime novel…an exploration of guilt, inaction and moral quandaries
—— Nic Bottomley , Bath Life
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