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Take a grand English country house, one (heartbroken) American divorcee, three rich wives, two tycoons, a pair of miniature sausage dogs and one (bereaved) butler; put them all into the blender and out comes the impossibly funny Wives Like Us, the new novel from the bestselling author of Bergdorf Blondes and Party Girls Die In Pearls, Plum Sykes.
If you think the English countryside is all green wellies, muddy Land Rovers and grey-haired ladies in tweed, then you've never visited 'The Bottoms.'
Welcome to the rose-strewn county of Oxfordshire, and the tony Cotswold villages of Little Bottom, Middle Bottom, Great Bottom, and Monkton Bottom, recently annexed by a glittering new breed of female: the Country Princess.
Following a ghastly row about a missing suite of diamonds, Tata Hawkins has flounced out of Monkton Bottom Manor with her daughter, Minty, and Executive Butler Ian Palmer in tow, decamping to The Old Coach House to teach her husband Bryan a lesson.
But things don't go to plan: Bryan disappears to Venice with a bikini designer; Selby Fairfax, the glamorous American divorcée who has inherited the beautiful estate next door, is refusing Tata's overtures at friendship; Tata's best friends, Sophie Thompson and Fernanda Ovington-Williams, are distracted by their own heartache, and the posh Pennybacker-Hoare sisters are plotting to prevent Tata regaining her crown as Queen of the Bottoms. Worst of all, Ian has nowhere to store his collection of vintage Gucci loafers.
Will Tata ever return to the comforts of the Manor? Will Selby find her Prince Charming? Will the Pennybacker-Hoares prevail? With the help of a pig farmer-ess moonlighting as a Personal Assistant, a male model moonlighting as a stable hand and a London barrister moonlighting as a gentleman farmer, can Ian restore harmony to The Bottoms?
"Sykes gives Kevin Kwan a run for his money in this saga of obscene wealth, designer outfits, miniature dog breeds, and over-the-top landscaping set in Oxfordshire, a rural area of vast estates now mostly in the hands of the nouveau riche... . Crazy Rich Brits may not have the amazing cuisine of their Asian counterparts, but they are just as scheming, fabulous, and fun to read about...You'll dive in and never look back." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"The Real Housewives meets Downton Abbey in this modern-day comedy of manners...Full of sly commentary...an escapist, dishy read." —Booklist
"Sykes's new novel moves from New York to the English countryside but maintains her humorous focus on the elite lives of rich (though not always happy) women...Light and fun with just a hint of gentle satire, this novel will delight Sykes's fans." —Library Journal
"A forensically well-observed narrative....will it do for the Cotswolds what F. Scott Fitzgerald did for the Hamptons....a shiny satirette of country living where everyone is unmuddied but filthy rich." —The Times (UK)
"Wives Like Us may be set in the most gorgeous English manor house, but I'd happily sleep in the shed if it meant I could tag along with these marvelous characters—Tata, Minty, and their chic and crafty butler." —Jenny Jackson, New York Times bestselling author of Pineapple Street
"A fabulous and funny bucolic romp—Plum Sykes does it again." —Hannah Rothschild, author of The Improbability of Love
"I absolutely adored Wives Like Us, I thought it was so fun and funny, a romp and a riot—and a glorious dollop of much needed escapism." —Daisy Buchanan
This information about Wives Like Us was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Plum Sykes was born in London and educated at Oxford. She is the author of the novels Bergdorf Blondes, The Debutante Divorcée, and Party Girls Die in Pearls. She is a contributing editor at World of Interiors and American Vogue. She lives in the English countryside with her daughters.
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