Pastures Nouveaux - Softcover

Holden, Wendy

3.26

1,764 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0747266166 ISBN 13: 9780747266167

Publisher: Headline Review, 2001

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

From SW7 to rural heaven. . .

Cash-strapped Rosie and her boyfriend Mark are city folk longing for a country cottage. Rampantly nouveaux-riches Samantha and Guy are also searching for rustic bliss - a mansion complete with mile-long drive and hot and cold running gardeners.

The village of Eight Mile Bottom seems quiet enough, despite a nosy postman, a reclusive rock star, a glamorous Bond Girl and a ghost with a knife in its back. But there are unexpected thrills in the hills. The local siren seduces Guy while a farmer fatale rocks Rosie's relationship. Then a mysterious millionaire makes an offer she can't refuse. But should she?

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:

Country life doesn't prove quite so simple for the sophisticated city folk in Pastures Nouveaux, best-selling author Wendy Holden's hilarious "comedy of country manors". Although some of the rural inhabitants are poor as church mice, the majority are not and all pursue the same recreational activities (money and sex) as their urban cousins.

The belle of the country set is Rosie, a freelance illustrator, who (originally) is not desperately seeking a man, marriage or babies. In fact, natural beauty Rosie doesn't seem to have a problem with men at all. Although she has a partner (Mark is an arrogant journalist whose work involves dishing the dirt on the famous), he is quite obviously unsuitable for such a nice girl. It doesn't take long (page two) before Rosie thinks there must be more to life. So when Mark is given his own column about, wait for it, the travails of sophisticated city folk who move to the hilariously simple "country", she is soon romping with a very mixed set from the nouveaux-riches Samantha and Guy to a farmer fatale and a mysterious millionaire.

Thanks to her previous jobs on national newspapers and up-market glossies, Holden slickly draws her caricatures of urban types from the single-minded financiers, for whom extra-marital sex is a hobby, to their stick-insect, interior design-obsessed wives to vacuous, celebrity-sniffing media types. Champagne D'Vyne, Holden's posh-totty socialite and star of previous tales, even makes a cameo appearance (as herself, nach). If you are looking for a light read, nouvelle literature that won't stretch you too much, read on! --Carey Green

Review:

Cash-strapped city folk Rosie and her boy friend Mark long for a country cottage; nouveau riches Samantha and Guy are also searching for rustic bliss in the form of a mansion with a mile-long drive and hot and cold running gardeners. But the local siren seduces Guy whilst a farmer fatale rocks Rosie's relationship. Then a mysterious millionaire makes her an offer she can't refuse - but should she ? A fine comic romp from the author of the bestsellers Bad Heir Day and Simply Divine.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.