Synopses & Reviews
A novel about what happens when messy life and love intrude on a young woman's perfectly ordered existence.
Martha Bone doesn't have children; she has furniture. She doesn't have a husband; she has her shop Martha Bone Antiques, in a fashionable London suburb. Her married sisters can meddle all they want, but that is just the way she likes it. Though Martha loves her niece and nephews, children don't really fit into her world. Their grubby fingers and muddy shoes don't go well with her cream-colored sofa and sea-grass rug.
When Martha's stepfather passes away, a small misunderstanding sets into motion a surprising chain of events. First she allows a cat to stay in her flat. Then the cat brings a man, and then the man brings his children. A garbage bag full of old letters takes up residence under her kitchen table along with the cat, and entices her to dig into a past of lost loves. And then, for the first time, things in Martha's life get messy.
Review
"Durrant avoids the pitfalls of chick lit by creating multidimensional characters....Their relationships seem real, and the dialogue goes beyond a string of witty one liners. This well-written, intelligent book will satisfy readers hungry for romance with more substance." Booklist
Review
"[A] fetching second novel....Maintaining momentum in a social comedy is exceedingly tricky....What a relief The Great Indoors doesn't wind up leaving us out in the cold." The New York Times Book Review
Review
"Perhaps the greatest strength of Durrant's writing is her ability to let the characters guide the story....[The Great Indoors] feels...like a description of life, with turns that are occasionally dead-wrong and twists that are unexpected." Denver Post
Review
"A happily realistic close prevails: Martha is allowed to suffer a little. A marvelously toned-down portrait of quotidian middle-class." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Durrant's second novel...is pleasant but not emphatically absorbing. While some of the characters are quirkily enjoyable, the ending is ambiguous to the point of being dissatisfying." Library Journal
Synopsis
The author of Having It and Eating It delivers this engaging new novel about a single woman who owns an antique shop in the suburbs of London, and how she deals with changing relationships with her family and the men in her life.
About the Author
Sabine Durrant, the author of Having It and Eating It, is a British journalist best known for "The Sabine Durrant Interview" in The Guardian. She has also worked for The Observer, The Independent, The Daily Telegraph, and The Sunday Times.