Farm Fatale: A Comedy of Country Manors (Paperback)

by Wendy Holden (Author) "Bang on 8 A.M., the car alarm that had been shrieking all night finally stopped..." (more)
Key Phrases: bloody postman, hen races, amateur dramatic society, The Bottoms, Matt Locke, Dame Nancy (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
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.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Plume; 1st THUS edition (February 26, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452283027
• ISBN-13: 978-0452283022
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #660,334 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A SMILE A PARAGRAPH AND A LAUGH A PAGE, March 17, 2002

By	Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

Those who relish a smile a paragraph and a laugh a page will devour Wendy Holden's latest fun-filled foray into the lives of the British upper class. FARM FATALE, a delicious take-off on the trendy, is punctuated with puns and served with satire.

Rosie, a children's book illustrator pines for the country life, a cozy cottage, if you will, in the rolling hills of England. On the other hand, Mark, her live-in boyfriend who is a tabloid writer, loves London. He's sure his big break is imminent and the city is the place where he'll find it.

Mark's wrong. His editor asks him to pen a column on the trials and triumphs of country living, so the couple buy a home in the village of Eight Mile Bottom. Rosie is enchanted with the rustic life and her new neighbors. Marks detests the prying postman, the couple next door, and he soon suffers from writer's block.

Enter social climbers Guy Grabster and his former actress wife, Samantha, who purchase a grand mansion nearby. They host a sumptuous show-off party attended by an eager Mark, hoping to land a job as screenwriter for Samantha's project - a star turn as Charlotte Bronte.

Now, if you think Samantha's scheme is a bit off the wall, wait until you meet some of the other characters Holden has dreamed up - an ex Bond lassie, hippies, and a handsome pop star whose fame and fortune have not brought him happiness. Mix in a good looking young farmer who apparently embodies all the values for which Rosie yearns.

What's a girl to do?

- Gail Cooke

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The city folk are coming......, April 21, 2007

By	Amanda Richards "Modest to the extreme" (Georgetown, Guyana) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This is a delightfully witty commentary on city folk who chuck it all in to dwell in rustic splendor in the idyllic countryside around Eight Mile Bottom, but who get a lot more than they bargained for.

If you liked Bridget Jones's Diary or appreciate British humor, you'll enjoy the resulting calamities, confusion, misunderstandings and slapstick comedy that ensue when Rosie and Mark and Samantha and Guy make the big move to their respective dream country dwellings.

Full of local color, scandalous gossip, and a wide range of eccentric (or just plain strange) characters, the author regales us with the trials of the decidedly not well-to-do Rosie and her writer boyfriend Mark, and the misery of everybody else having the bad luck to encounter the filthy rich Samantha.

A hunky farmer, a reclusive pop star and a houseful of ghosts round out the story, which is recommended if you're looking for an extremely light tension-relieving read.


Amanda Richards

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Moo-ing to the country, May 13, 2003

By	Wendy-Marie Chabot "The Bad Gwen" (Central CT) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Charning artist Rosie longs to escape London and move to a cottage in the country. When her live-in boyfriend Mark gets the chance to write a newspaper column about country living, Rosie's dreams seem to be coming true. Meanwhile Samantha, a frightening failed actress turned trophy wife who would be at home going to lunch everyday at Harvey Nicks with "Bad Heir Day"'s Cassandra, convinces her recovering from a heart attack hubby Guy to move to the country for his health.

Guess where both couples end up? Naturally in the same small village with Samantha and Guy becoming the nouveau riche owners of a local estate and Rosie and Mark settling into their own tiny house. The local townsfolk including the gossiping mailman, the British Dame who runs the local drama society, a reclusive rock star and the sweet older couple who live next door to Rosie and Mark.

Will Rosie and Mark find happiness? Perhaps. Will Samantha ever get a part anyone remembers? Depends on how big hubby Guy's wallet is. Will the reclusive rock star be a total babe? Oh yes. Will Champagne bubble up from the depths to wreck havoc? Certainly.

For the Marian Keyes and Sophie Kinsella fans, Wendy Holden is a must read!