Critics' Opinion:
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Published in USA
Mar 2012
288 pages
Genre: Novels
Publication Information
Constance Harding's comfortable corner of Surrey is her own little piece of heaven. She lives in a chocolate box house complete with an Aga and a parrot, her bell-ringing club is set to dominate the intercounty tournament, and she is sure she can get her son, Rupert, to settle down if she just writes the perfect personal ad for him. Naturally, things turn disastrous rather quickly. And she's about to learn that her perfect home conceals a scandal that would make the vicar blush.
Her Lithuanian housekeeper's undergarments keep appearing in her husband's study and her daughter is turning into a Lycra-clad gap-year strumpet. As her family falls apart, Constance embarks on an extraordinary journey. From partying in Ibiza to riding bareback with a handsome Argentinean gaucho whose only English words are "Britney" and "Spears," Constance is about to discover a wider world she thought it was too late to find.
Hilarious, inventive, and ultimately heartwarming, A Surrey State of Affairs will appeal to fans of Major Pettigrew's Last Stand and the novels of Alexander McCall Smith.
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"Radford's wildly entertaining and amusing debut novel is composed of prim and proper Constance Harding's heartfelt blog posts, which chronicle a triumphant and tumultuous year of her life as wife and mother." - Publishers Weekly
"Radford's novel is very funny and curiously soothing - an ideal book for a fractious plane trip." - Daily Mail (UK)
"...Radford's debut is unsurprisingly episodic and repetitive in its lightly comic account of Constance Harding's gradual emergence from a world of her own." - Library Journal
"Wonderfully amusing. A comic gem." - Alexander McCall Smith
"Warning: unintended snorts of laughter may occur in public places. Comic satire erupts when modern mores and reality TV invade the comfortable confines of Constance Harding's cozy upper crust world. I loved every dizzy, delightful page." - Helen Simonson, bestselling author of Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
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Ceri Radford is a journalist at the Telegraph Media Group. She lives in London and has been called the "new Helen Fielding" (Company, UK). A Surrey State of Affairs is her first novel. Visit her online at www.ceriradford.com.
A timely novel that explores the human capacity for resiliency and compassion.
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