In this latest addition to the "Brit-chick" genre, Barker sneaks another peek at the diary of divorced mother-of-three Venetia Summers. This sequel to last year's Hens Dancing
follows her bucolic life in Norfolk, England, which "seems entirely made up of shit-shoveling episodes, be they after dogs, pigs, children, or hens." She's adjusting without her "lovely handsome tower-of-strength boyfriend, David," who's been called to work on a movie set in Bermuda, but desperately misses him and his help with 11-year-old Giles, nine-year-old Felix and toddler "The Beauty." Production delays keep David away longer than expected, and phone calls and e-mails are increasingly few and far between. But for better or worse, Venetia finds distraction in a wacky cast of characters, most notably her mother, whose idea of teatime is a pack of cigarettes and a glass of vodka, and Hedley Sale, her cantankerous new neighbor, who has a penchant for overimbibing and speaking Latin. Venetia also stumbles into a burgeoning fashion career, which consists of attaching the odd pipe cleaner or stalk of wheat to old cardigans and selling them in a posh London store, which will hopefully allow her to quit her tedious copywriting job. Frustrated by David's absence, Venetia flirts with the idea that Hedley may be The One, if only she can look past his repulsiveness to his ability to provide stability for her family. His attempts at seduction, like inviting Venetia to listen to the nightingales on the heath, are utterly British pastoral, and this breezy yet surprisingly tender read is peppered with Brit-speak (chod, scrumple, splodges) that any Anglophile will enjoy. The reader needn't be a parent to appreciate this sweetly funny ode to single motherhood.(May)
