The author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel pens “the happiest, saddest, funniest, most perceptive truth about growing up since The Catcher in the Rye” (Over 21). Laura and Claire Jenkins were born just a few years apart, but they’re as different as night and day. Sensible, level-headed Claire has settled into her teaching job in London, sharing an apartment with two other girls, while free-spirited Laura starts her first year at university, where she sets a...
The author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel pens “the happiest, saddest, funniest, most perceptive truth about growing up since The Catcher in the Rye” (Over 21). Laura and Claire Jenkins were born just a few years apart, but they’re as different as night and day. Sensible, level-headed Claire has settled into her teaching job in London, sharing an apartment with two other girls, while free-spirited Laura starts her first year at university, where she sets about to find herself—no matter where that may lead . . . Soon Claire falls for a man who may not set the world on fire, but offers her the stability she craves. Laura, always the rebel, moves out of the dorms and into a relationship with a frustrated artist-turned–bus conductor. But as Claire begins to question her motives and Laura’s bohemian life begins to lose its charm, the sisters start to realize that they may be more alike than they thought. And that’s not such a bad thing when it comes to family, sisterhood, and growing up. “Assured and successful. . . . Altogether a most satisfying and intelligent first novel.” —Financial Times “Sensitive and humorous.” —Daily Express “A delightful story of young love.” —The Times (London) “It is thrilling to find a writer who could capture our world, and our emotions, so accurately.” —Wellington Evening Post “Warm and witty . . . family life most achingly bared.” —New Statesman
