Wild Cats & Colleens: A Novel [Hardcover]

Morag Prunty (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 23, 2001

"Irish-American billionaire seeks bright, beautiful, independent, but, above all, Irish wife. Please send photo and three-hundred-word essay about yourself to P.D. Box NY 14786. Looking for genuine love. No timewasting money-grabbers please."

Laura has been twenty-five for nearly ten years and it's starting to show. Successful and sassy, she has spent her money on hard living and tough boy-toys. She's hoping this ad might provide her with the chance to pull her Ferrari into the last gas station before the desert.

Gloria is watching her hard-earned business go up the nose of her womanizing ex-husband. Tired of life and not yet thirty, she's determined never to go back to poverty again.Maybe this is the chance she needs to make sure that doesn't happen.

Sandy doesn't have marriage oh her mind -- she's too ambitious for that. But this might be the big story that could make or break her career as a journalist: On the other hand, her curves and long red curls just might win her a husband in the deal.

Three women and one Irish-American billionaire seeking a wild Irish rose of a wife. Out of hundreds of replies, the hopelessly romantic billionaire has whittled down the single women of Ireland to the finalists, and now he's coming over to choose. But he's going to get more than he bargained for from these wild cats and colleens.

Morag Prunty's first novel is a hilarious, electric satire set in contemporary Ireland, where the Celtic tigress is charging through Dublin in a pair of Gucci mules.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This first novel by an English-born journalist who now edits a magazine in Dublin has a good idea at its heart: to blow away those blarney cobwebs from the Irish image and to show that the country is as up-to-date, materialistic and obsessed with glamour and trivia as much of the rest of the Western world. The tone is set immediately by the introduction of Lorna, a Dublin PR queen whose life is a round of parties and hangovers, but who seems over the top even by New York standards. Then there is Gloria, who has pulled herself up from the slums by her skill with a comb and runs a highly successful hair salon. Sandy is an ambitious journalist who is writing a career-making story about the ads placed by American billionaire Xavier Power (who worships his Irish background) seeking a beautiful young Irish wife. In the course of finding out who will end up with whom in the large, hyperactive cast, the reader is treated to a series of farcical excesses and scenes that are apparently intended to be satirical but that usually come off as merely shrill and absurd. Power's assistant, Liam, who wants to write the Great Irish Novel but gets led astray by the comfortable life, is only one of the more archly obvious caricatures. Prunty moves her characters around with some skill, and gets in some neat jabs at the publicity world, but the tone is so overwrought that any glimmers of quiet sense are promptly overtaken by another noisy climax. Maeve Binchy, for all her easy sentiment, gets much closer to a recognizable contemporary Ireland than this. (Nov.)Forecast: Even for lovers of things Irish, this will be a tough sell, unlikely to be helped by reviews or word of mouth.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Those whose notions of modern Irish life are based on TV ads from the Ireland Tourism Board, such as Prunty's romantic Irish American billionaire hero, may experience a shock because the colleens in this fanciful tale are more wild than winsome. Three single women are each convinced that the rich American advertising for an Irish wife is the solution to their problems. Two need money to get out of a jam, and the third is looking for journalistic fame with a cutting-edge story, and a husband. The American is therefore faced with an embarrassment of choices. The madcap situations that follow result in storybook-happy matchmakings for all concerned, although not along the lines readers might expect, and, to add to the pleasure, all the bad guys receive appropriate comeuppances. Prunty's sarcastic edge saves this romp from being merely an updated version of How to Marry a Millionaire, and makes for a fun-to-read satire. Danise Hoover
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Harper; 1st edition (October 23, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060185082
• ISBN-13: 978-0060185084
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,620,132 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Fun Read with Lots Going On, August 18, 2002

By 

Tracey A. Nettell (Houston, Texas, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wild Cats & Colleens: A Novel (Hardcover)

Originally published in the UK as "Dancing with Mules", "Wild Cats and Colleens" is a fun read with a rich and varied cast of characters and a very comical plot line. Xavier Big is an absurdly rich and totally out-of-touch with reality American whose devotion to his dead Irish mammy borders on the psychotic. When he decides (and publicly announces) that he must marry a good Irish girl that mother would be proud of, you can imagine what chaos ensues in every county of Ireland. Married or unmarried, every red-haired Irish lassie thinks she stands a chance. There are lots of well-written characters in this book, some of whom you will like and some of whom will make you grind your teeth! But its a fun read and I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great giggle!, November 14, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Wild Cats & Colleens: A Novel (Hardcover)

This is one of those perfect beach/train/anytime books.
The characters are really funny - especially the face products obsessed weak willed brother. It captures a sense of giddiness and fun - that has been lacking in books since the Tales of the City series. I loved how the plot escalated and ended on a very satisfying note. A great read - go out and buy it for all your friends!