Product Description

The story of a girl who needs to slow down. To find herself. To fall in love. And to discover what an iron is for...Samantha is a high-powered lawyer in London. She works all hours, has no home life, and cares only about getting a partnership. She thrives on the pressure and adrenalin. Until one day...she makes a mistake. A mistake so huge, it'll wreck her career. She walks right out of the office, gets on the first train she sees, and finds herself in the middle of nowhere. Asking for directions at a big, beautiful house, she is mistaken for the interviewee housekeeper and finds herself being offered the job. They have no idea they've hired a Cambridge-educated lawyer with an IQ of 158 - Samantha has no idea how to work the oven. Disaster ensues. It's chaos as Samantha battles with the washing machine...the ironing board...and attempts to cook a cordon bleu dinner. But gradually, she falls in love with her new life in a wholly unexpected way. Will her employers ever discover the truth? Will Samantha's old life ever catch up with her? And if it does...will she want it back?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2170 in Books
• Published on: 2006-01-02
• Released on: 2006-01-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

Review
'A delightful comedy of errors from the funniest female writer around' - Company. 'Definitely full of laughs' - New Woman. 'Witty role-swap comedy' - Grazia. 'Another rib-tickler from the author of the Shopaholic series' - OK Magazine

From the Publisher
The story of a girl who needs to slow down. To find herself. To fall in love. And to discover what an iron is for…

From the Back Cover
The story of a girl who needs to slow down. To find herself. To fall in love. And to discover what an iron is for…

Samantha is a high-powered lawyer in London. She works all hours, has no home life, and cares only about getting a partnership.She thrives on the pressure and adrenalin. Until one day… she makes a mistake. A mistake so huge, it’ll wreck her career.

She walks right out of the office, gets on the first train she sees, and finds herself in the middle of nowhere. Asking for directions at a big, beautiful house, she is mistaken for the interviewee housekeeper and finds herself being offered the job. They have no idea they’ve hired a Cambridge-educated lawyer with an IQ of 158 – Samantha has no idea how to work the oven.

Disaster ensues. It’s chaos as Samantha battles with the washing machine…the ironing board…and attempts to cook a cordon bleu dinner.But gradually, she falls in love with her new life in a wholly unexpected way.

Will her employers ever discover the truth? Will Samantha’s old life ever catch up with her? And if it does…will she want it back?

Customer Reviews

Exceeded Expectations
Sophie Kinsella is not a novelist I normally chose to read, although I am well aware of her popularity in the chick-lit genre. This happened to come my way when I was looking for a quick and easy read so I decided to give it a go. I have only read one other title by her and I remember nothing at all about it, which did not bode particularly well.

It actually exceeded my expectations and turned out to be an amusing read even if the storyline was rather predictable and clichéd. There were certainly some situations that ring very true for those that hold down high powered jobs in the city in the 21st century.
The protagonist is high flying London lawyer Samantha whose work is her life 24/7 with no time for relaxation or pleasure, even her love life is time-tabled. One day after thinking she has made the biggest business mistake ever she just leaves her life behind and disappears. Somehow she finds herself accepting her job as a housekeeper, strange when she is so undomesticated. The couple that she works for Trish and Eddie Geiger are the most dreadfully stupid pair, so funny. Samantha gets herself into a tangle with her new employers, but somehow all problems are so easily overcome that she soon finds her feet, begins to enjoy life, falls in love with the gardener and solves the mystery of why she lost her job. Eventually she discovers for herself what she really wants out of life with a suitably predictable happy ending.

I admit it was better than I expected, although I will not rush to read all her other novels. If you are hopelessly undomesticated or stressed out with your career this will make you laugh and take your mind off your own problems.
As a point of interest Sophie Kinsella also writes as Madeline Wickham. I have read an enjoyed six novels written by her with this pseudonym. I can only think that is maybe because they are directed at a slightly older market?

I now can't wait to read all her other books!
''The story of a girl who needs to slow down.To find herself.To fall in love.And to discover what an iron is for... '' describes this book perfectly.It was refreshing to read a book not about finding love but about finding the most important relationship of all the relationship you have with yourself.Even though there is a love interest in this book it isn't what the book is about it's more about Samantha discovering who she is and what she wants out of life.A must read if you fancy something light thats not the normal predictable chick lit.This is the first book that I have read by Sophie Kinsella.Having heard rave reviews about her books I decided to give this a go and I really enjoyed it.I now can't wait to read her other books and the famous Shopaholic series!

I LOVE THIS BOOK
Absolutley brilliant book. As soon as you read the first page you are hooked, and will find it hard to put the book down. Its a must read!