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摘要
摘要
May, Sally and Harriet are reduced to working for Quality Cleaners when each of them needs money, badly. But when they discover that they are being taken to the cleaners, they set up an independent team and things really begin to take off.
评论 (2)
出版社周刊评论
It's Cinderella time for the three housecleaning heroines of this charming romance, the stateside debut of British novelist Fforde (Living Dangerously). Fiercely independent May Sargent needs a job to pay overdue mooring fees on her houseboat, the Rose Revived. Lovelorn actress Sally Bliss would "be grateful for a non-speaking role as a cucumber sandwich" but can't find one. And quiet single mother Harriet Devonshire has come to London with dreams of studying art. These three women meet in the offices of Quality Cleaners, where a maid's accent counts for more than her experience with a mop. It turns out that housecleaning has some unexpected rewards, as Harriet learns when she scrubs floors for renowned artist Leo Purbright, and as May finds out when her unexpected debut as a cook brings an introduction to sexy hot-shot lawyer Hugh Buckfast. But in a few short weeks, the women's dreams are shattered. Sally is thrown out by her social-climbing journalist boyfriend, Harriet's grandparents attempt to get custody of her son and all three housecleaners are cheated out of their rightful wages by their employer. What to do but to start their own business, Cleaning Undertaken? And they launch just in time, too, for Sally to meet handsome farmer James Lucas. The surprise in this delightfully old-fashioned romance isn't that Fforde has her trio find their Prince Charmings among the Lysol and Comet, but that she does so with a refreshing lack of gratuitous and graphic sex. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus评论
With a light touch and a simple style, British writer Fforde offers a slight but spirited first novel of three English roses who blossom when they strike out on their own--and finally meet the right men. Housecleaning becomes a path to romance in modern London as the lives and futures of three floundering but well-bred young Englishwomen intersect at a sham cleaning agency. Sally Bliss, a beauty and would-be actress, is trapped in a lose-lose relationship with a snooty, demanding journalist named Piers. Harriet Devonshire, an artist by nature and the mother of ten-year-old illegitimate Matthew, ran away from her controlling great- grandparents when they sent Matthew to boarding school and consequently forbade Harriet to have any contact with him. Spunky, determined, independent May Sargent is living aboard The Rose Revived, a former boyfriend's canal boat, but now she's out of money and too proud to borrow from her family. If she can't pay the harbor master soon, she'll lose the only thing she has: her home. All three women show up at ``Slimeball'' Slater's office in response to an advertisement for cleaners; all three are hired on the spot and sign contracts without reading them--a foolish move that leaves them, literally, in the same boat when they realize that Slater's up to no good. Once the women set out on their initial assignments, though, it's not just trouble they're in for- -genuine friendship is only the first of many benefits to come. With the help of Hugh Buckfast, an attorney May meets at a dinner party she's forced to cater, Quality Cleaners leads to Cleaning Undertaken, a self-conceived, self-run enterprise; for Sally, Harriet, and especially May, running a business leads to self- sufficiency, well-lit career paths, and lasting love. No complex twists or turns, no surprises, just good, clean (emphasis on the latter), old-fashioned fun.