Summary: "Constance Harding's comfortable corner of Surrey is her own little piece of heaven. She lives in a chocolate box house complete with an Aga and a parrot, her bell-ringing club is set to dominate the intercounty tournament, and she is sure she can get her son, Rupert, to settle down if she just writes the perfect personal ad for him. Naturally, things turn disastrous rather quickly. And she's about to learn that her perfect home conceals a scandal that would make the vicar blush. Her Lithuanian housekeeper's undergarments keep appearing in her husband's study and her daughter is turning into a Lycra-clad gap-year strumpet. As her family falls apart, Constance embarks on an extraordinary journey. From partying in Ibiza to riding bareback with a handsome Argentinean gaucho whose only English words are "Britney" and "Spears," Constance is about to discover a wider world she thought it was too late to find. Hilarious, inventive, and ultimately heartwarming, A Surrey State of Affairs will appeal to fans of Major Pettigrew's Last Stand and the novels of Alexander McCall Smith. "-- Provided by publisher.
Booklist Reviews
Radford scores a bull's-eye with this hilarious, spot-on debut. Constance Harding finds herself increasingly bemused and bewildered by her distant husband, slovenly housekeeper, two stubbornly independent grown children, and engagingly eccentric church-bell-ringing group. What's a proper, middle-aged, upper-middle-class British matron to do? Blog, of course—and blog, she does, in a series of earnestly witty posts detailing all the comings and goings of her comfortable little corner of Surrey, England. Although the messy handwriting on the wall is visible to everyone else long before the ever-optimistic Constance sees it, you can't help cheering for this determinedly chipper heroine as she grapples magnificently with the series of unexpected curves life throws her way. No one has a stiffer upper lip, and no one can ring away all her troubles with a particularly tricky Reverse St. Sylvester the way Constance can. Excellent Brit chick lit for the more—shall we say—well-seasoned crowd. Copyright 2012 Booklist Reviews.
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