The Undomestic Goddess
by Sophie Kinsella
Published by Dial Press
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Reviewed by Kathy Perschmann, Chanhassen (MN) Librarian
The author of the Shopaholic series features a workaholic in this hysterically funny book.
High-powered London attorney Samantha Sweeting has just learned she has been made partner in the prestigious firm of Carter Spink, when she discovers a form on her desk that was to be filed with the court weeks ago. How could she have missed this deadline?
The results are disastrous. She notifies that bank and the firms concerned, realizes that nothing can avert the loss of 50 million pounds. In shock, she staggers out of the building and walks until she discovers she is at Paddington Station, where she boards a train and ends up in a tiny bucolic village--after imbibing several drinks on the train.
There she approaches a mansion intending to ask for water and some aspirin, when the homeowners take her for an applicant for the housekeeper position of. She stays on, thinking "what the heck," she can do this. However, Samantha did not know that vacuum cleaners have bags, or how to operate her oven or washing machine, and quickly she is in over her head.
Hunky gardener Nathanial enlists the help of his mother to teach Sam the basics of cooking and cleaning, and he tries hard not to laugh at her attempts. Eventually Sam uncovers the truth about the mislaid document and the firms involved, and when she informs her bosses at Carter Spink, they decide they want her back.
Read the book to find out if she wants that life back--the 7-day-a-week, 12-hour-a-day-work schedule, with no time for friends or family--or what happens.
Armchair Interviews says: Good story for fun reading.