Joining a team of housecleaners as a means of supporting themselves, recently unemployed May, single mother and hopeful artist Harriet, and star-seeking Sally find themselves in hotter water than they could have expected.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
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.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
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. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fforde's First Was Her Best,
By Wendy Kaplan (Houston) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Rose Revived (Hardcover)
It's hard to compare Katie Fforde books, because they are ALL so absolutely delightful, something like a delicate sherbet after a meal of lambchops!
But "The Rose Revived," which was the book that catapulted her to fame, is just wonderful. Highly reminiscent of one of her later books, Life Skills (which I guess cannot be called reminiscent, since it came several years later), this is the story of a cheeky girl named May who lives on a canal boat. Feisty, self-sufficient and used to a bit of hardship, May is now facing true disaster: She has lost her job and her nasty mooring master(something like a landlord) is threatening to sell her boat's mooring berth out from under her if she does not come up with the considerable debt she owes to him. Fast forward to a nasty man dubbed Slimeball, who offers May and two equally desperate young women--Sally, an out-of-work actress, and Harriet, a single mother in danger of losing custody of her son, jobs as a house cleaners for his agency. The women take the job--even though nobody but Harriet has ever truly cleaned a house. A wild and woolly adventure begins. Will Slimeball pocket all the women's hard-earned profits? Will Harriet become a famous artist, keep her son, and incidentally make her sexy art teacher notice her? Will May keep her beloved boat, The Rose Revived? And what of Sally, who, up until now, has relied only on her beauty and stick insect body to make her way in the world? I defy anybody to read this book without breaking out into huge smiles. This is the type of book where, when you reach the last page, you emit a huge sigh and then read the last chapter all over again just to keep from ending it. Highly recommended!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Juggling Act,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Rose Revived (Hardcover)
But a good one. Katie Fforde manages to tell the story of not one, but three very different women with this one tightly written book. Three women from very different paths start a cleaning service in order to make ends meet - along the way, the actress meets the farmer (and supplies most of Fforde's trademark humor), the repressed artist meets the successful artist (and regains her son), and the determined free spirit meets the lawyer (her family does supply a few laughs around Christmas). The road isn't smooth for any of them, but the lessons learned by all are wonderful. I highly recommend any book by Katie Fforde, especially Living Dangerously and Wild Designs.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Delightful, Fforde at her best,
By
This review is from: The Rose Revived (Hardcover)
Thoroughly enjoyed this novel! It was fun to read, had some nice - not unbelievable - men in it and was a good all round read.
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