Amazon.com
Farm Fatale is a breezy Cinderella of a novel, tarted up in wellies and corduroy rather than the more traditional ball gown. Its theme--Londoners move to the country--is a well worn one in British comic writing, and
Farm Fatale hews closely to tradition. Rosie is a disgruntled illustrator, bored with city living and dissatisfied with her relationship. She convinces her crabby boyfriend Mark to move with her to the country. Samantha and Guy--a trophy wife and the man who bagged her--end up in the same town, dragging their pretensions along with them. Village life looks easy enough, but the four newcomers find plenty of pitfalls among the cows, the mud, the marauding hippies, and the leaky outbuildings. This is the kind of novel that ends with someone slipping a "pale blue Tiffany ring box" into the heroine's hand; the fun is in finding out just who that suitor will be.
--Claire Dederer
From Publishers Weekly
As the old caveat goes: be careful what you wish for it might come true. Holden (Bad Heir Day) addresses what can possibly go wrong (and does) when one woman finally gets exactly what she wants in this energetic, witty tale. Rosie, an idealistic freelance illustrator, can hardly wait to leave her dingy London flat for a charming little cottage in the country. Mark, her live-in boyfriend, is less than enthusiastic about exchanging London's hustle and bustle for the bucolic life particularly when his "big break" at his thankless newspaper job seems just around the corner. But Mark's editor assigns him a new column based on the adventures of a "city mouse" in the country, and it looks like Rosie's dream has finally come true. Unfortunately, it's a nightmare. Their tiny cottage is just as "rural" and "historic" as it appears (complete with the attendant plumbing problems); loud hippie neighbors disturb their slumbers; and Rosie and Mark squabble over everything from gardening to the charms of the locals. However, the lovely old couple next door has a farmer nephew they're eager for Rosie to meet, and to her surprise, he turns out to be both young and cute. Toss in a reclusive pop star, a pushy second-rate actress and a gossipy postman, and decibel levels in the sleepy village of Eight Mile Bottom are soon rising to a decidedly unsleepy pitch. With enjoyable if limited characters and a wonderfully awful-to-watch side plot involving the truly horrible "Sasha Villiers" (her "stage" name), this lighthearted romp, surprisingly unpredictable, smart and fun, is refreshing fare readers can turn to when they're tired of lifeless Bridget clones.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
See all Editorial Reviews