Pastures Nouveaux - Softcover

Holden, Wendy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0755329759 ISBN 13: 9780755329755

Publisher: Headline Review, 2006

Synopsis

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 mysterious millionaire makes Rosie an offer she can't refuse. But should she?

About 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:

'Holden combines subtle observation on the disparity between romanticised and real
rural life with deliciously brash humour' The Times

(The Times)

Pacy pastiche of city dwellers "gone country"...packed with puns... Holden has produced an entertaining novel, bursting with a large cast of Diblyesque characters, which will no doubt delight fans of her two previous books (Daily Mail)

Clever, naughty and basically affectionate and good-natured.... a comic romp engineered with aplomb and dash... will have fans glued (Sunday Times)

Pastures Nouveaux was no.6 in the Observer and no.no.10 in the Daily and Sunday Telegraph bestseller lists

'Holden combines subtle observation on the disparity between romanticised and real rural life with deliciously brash humour' The Times

A very modern romantic comedy... her cultural references are spot-on... an amusing romp through village life (Mail on Sunday)

Wendy Holden was the subject of the My Therapy feature in the Express with a strapline for Pastures Nouveaux 13/8

'On days of gloom Wendy Holden's novels should be handed round like aspirin. Her new book, Pastures Nouveaux, is guaranteed to bring a smile even to the baddest of moods... Discover the hills are alive with the sound of high jinks in this laugh-a-minute romp' B magazine

Pastures Nouveaux was no.4 in the Times fastseller list and no.7 in the Sunday Times and Observer bestseller lists

'A pun-packed romp' Eve

About this edition

• Publisher: Headline Review
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0755329759
• ISBN 13: 9780755329755
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 480