You're not doing very much at the moment, darling. I don't suppose you'd care to house-sit for a while? It's a beautiful old house in a lovely part of the world..." Thus begins the endearing, hilarious story of two fixer-uppers -- and old house and a young woman -- and their efforts to recapture their true luster.
When Hetty Longden, freshly dumped and broken-hearted, agrees to look after her great-uncle's long-abandoned mansion in the countryside, she is at something of a lifetime low. With no job, no lover, no prospects, and no particular talent for resuscitating crukmbling estates, she hopes for nothing more than a good old-fashioned escape. What she finds, though, is a cast of quirky and everpresent neighbors, a couple of SNAGs (Sensitive New Age Guys), some very humorless bank officials, two disarming little canines, one gracious, dilapidated, romantic old house -- and, just maybe, enough elbow grease to polish everything up again.
A British bestseller tha's as inviting as an elegant old house full of unexplored rooms (after a good scrubbing-down, of course), Stately Pursuits is the funniest, smartest, and warmest read of the season.