''Shire Hell'' is the hilarious sequel to Rachel
Johnson's brilliant novel ''Notting Hell'' in which Mimi
and Ralph have managed to escape the city and move to
the idyllic Dorset countryside, but have they moved out
of the frying pan and into the fire? Winner of the
''Literary Review's'' infamous Bad Sex in Fiction Award
in 2008. Mimi and Ralph have left social climbing, pushy
parenting and their marital problems behind them in
London, and moved west to the bucolic green depths of
the country. Or so they though. Yes, there's mud and
masses of fresh air, plenty of handsome hayseeds and
there's Rose, Mimi's new best friend and Dorset's answer
to Martha Stewart. But what should be Shire Heaven is,
it turns out, just as tricky to navigate as Notting
Hell. There's low-level conflict between the racehorses
in vintage/Diesel/Ralph Lauren and the brood mares in
Barbour/Boden, there's guerrilla warfare between the
landowners and eco-warriors and naked hostility between
Old Money, New Money and No Money.Yes, in Honeybourne,
if you don't have: a landscaped garden with 1,000 acres
(minimum) of prime land; a helipad for your trophy
guests; an organic farm shop selling sixteen sorts of
home-made sausages; four pony-mad polo-playing children;
a Literary Festival in your mini-stately; and, a bottom
that looks smackable in jodhpurs. Then, well ...you're
Mimi, basically. And that's just the start of her
problems. Mimi also has a secret. But can she keep it?
Rachel Johnson is known for her wickedly funny novels
''The Mummy Diaries'' and ''Notting Hell''; also
available from Penguin is her first non-fiction book ''A
Diary of a Lady''. |
|