Synopses & Reviews
For fans of Alan Furst and Sarah Blake, a spellbinding story of a secret mission and dangerous passion in World War II Paris: After delivering a B-17 Flying Fortress to Britain, an American volunteers to copilot a plane carrying special agents to their drop spot over Normandy. Her personal mission: to find her brother, who is missing in action. Their plane is shot down, and only she and five agents survive. Now they are on the run for their lives.
As they head to Paris, the beautiful aviatrix Velva Jean Hart becomes Clementine Roux, a daring woman on an epic adventure with her team to capture an operative known only as "Swan." Once settled on Rue de la Néva, Clementine works as a spy with the Resistance and finds herself falling in love with her fellow agent, Émile, a handsome and mysterious Frenchman with secrets of his own. When Clementine ends up in the most brutal prison in Paris, trying to help Émile and the team rescue Swan, she discovers the depths of human cruelty, the triumph of her own spirit, and the bravery of her team, who will stop at nothing to carry out their mission.
Readers of 22 Britannia Road, The Postmistress, and Suite Francaise will cherish Becoming Clementine—a romantic World War II adventure told from the perspective of a courageous and beautiful heroine. Niven is the author of the popular Velva Jean novels, including Velva Jean Learns to Drive and Velva Jean Learns to Fly.
Review
"Olivia seems like a misplaced character, doomed to wander, page by page, chapter to chapter, from one sort of novel into another, as this dreadfully plotted story meanders its way through an anthology of genres." Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
Review
"It's Bridget Jones gone James Bond....It's tons of fun, full of Fielding's brilliant comic writing. It's the perfect book for the summer's first chick-lit pool read." Leanne Potts, Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, New Mexico)
Review
"Maybe we would have loved Olivia before Austin Powers came along, and maybe it's just hard to make a joke out of Osama bin Laden. It's no Bridget Jones, but it's still good fun." Susan Larson, New Orleans Times-Picayune
Review
"[M]ay be the worst novel of the year....With the general public already on edge about the possibility of future attacks, should a silly summer read really wallow in a cheap al-Qaeda subplot?...Fielding has once again invented a new genre: terror trash. (Grade: F)" Karen Valby, Entertainment Weekly
Review
"Very addictive....Fielding's comic talent lies in her adorable observations....This is quintessential Fielding." The Observer (U.K.)
Review
"Fielding desperately flip-flops between fanciful descriptions of Wonderbra weapons and musings about the deadliness of ricin. Her willful cluelessness is inappropriate at best and offensive at worst." Stephanie Zacharek, Newsday
Review
"[A] heroine who is more Austin Powers than Jane Austen....This fast-paced tale is smart and thoroughly silly....Olivia Joules is best seen as a riff, not a commentary, on current affairs." Meredith Broussard, San Francisco Chronicle
Review
"Fielding is an extremely skillful and engaging writer. The book works as a fast-paced thriller I gulped it down in one reading. But it also has great charm and, in its shy fashion, a moral theme." The Telegraph (London)
Review
"The name is Joules, Olivia Joules....Post Bridget Jones, Helen Fielding has written an action-packed thriller starring 'a heroine for the 21st century.' The result is a book that's fast-moving and entertaining." The Guardian (U.K.)
Review
"Recklessly cosmopolitan, jet-setting, worldly, adventurous a 340 page romp." The Independent (U.K.)
Review
"This is a girl's own adventure with added sauce to rattle through in one entertaining sitting. Helen Fielding is a great comic writer." The Spectator (U.K.)
Review
"It should all be terribly, terribly amusing, except the action is often too frantic, Olivia too senseless and the comedy when it isn't skirting close to harrowing reality too forced. Possibly it will work better on the screen..." Sherryl Connelly, New York Daily News
Review
"There are other faults a narrative style that reads like Harry Potter, snogging scenes that are sub-Judy Blume, and woefully bad pacing....But above all, this book takes painfully serious acts of oppression and slaughter and treats them with endless, baffling flippancy." Zoe Williams, New Statesman
Review
"If Bridget Jones shaped and named a certain kind of life in the 1990s, it looks as if Olivia Joules, Helen Fielding's new heroine, may do the same for the new decade." The Times (London)
Review
"Hurrah for Fielding! Yet again she's picked up on what's lacking in the girly train read....Fielding's prose shimmers and glares with wit, sophistication and humanity. A brilliant comic writer, Fielding's talent exceeds any sociological explanation." The Independent on Sunday (U.K.)
Review
"[T]he problem is Fielding's discomfort with the genre she's sending up....the flat tone makes the book leaden where it should be playfully tongue-in-cheek, as if instead of mocking the spy genre's cliches Fielding were simply embracing them." Caryn James, The New York Times Book Review
Review
"Fielding has served up a delicious satire of our worst fears and prejudices in a post-September 11 world as we all know, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't really out to get you. But, in addition to satire, Fielding still delivers on the thriller in this wry and engaging book. This is not the vapid chick lit of romance- and shopping-obsessed 'Sex and the City' fans. This is adventure and political comedy with a feminine twist." Sacha Zimmerman, The New Republic (read the entire New Republic review)
Synopsis
At the close of the last millennium, Helen Fielding debuted the irrepressible (and blockbuster-bestselling)
Bridget Jones. Now, Fielding gives us a sensational new heroine for a new era...
Move over, 007, a stunning, sexy and decidedly female new player has entered the world of international espionage. Her name is Olivia Joules (that's "J.O.U.L.E.S. the unit of kinetic energy") and she's ready to take America by storm with charm, style, and her infamous Overactive Imagination.
How could a girl not be drawn to the alluring, powerful Pierre Ferramo he of the hooded eyes, impeccable taste, unimaginable wealth, exotic international homes, and dubious French accent? Could Ferramo really be a major terrorist bent on the Western world's destruction, hiding behind a smokescreen of fine wines, yachts, and actresses slash models? Or is it all just a product of Olivia Joules's overactive imagination?
Join Olivia in her heart-stopping, hilarious, nerve-frazzling quest from hip hotel to eco-lodge to underwater cave, by light aircraft, speedboat, helicopter, and horse, in this witty, contemporary, and utterly unputdownable novel deluxe.
Synopsis
Move over, 007 a stunning, sexy, new player has entered the world of international espionage. Her name is Olivia Joules and she's ready to take America by storm with charm, style, and her infamous overactive imagination.
Synopsis
Summer 1944. Paris. A secret mission. A dangerous passion. A spellbinding story you will never forget.
After delivering a B-17 Flying Fortress to Britain, an American volunteers to copilot a plane carrying special agents to their drop spot over Normandy. Her personal mission: to find her brother, who is missing in action. Their plane is shot down, and only she and five agents survive. Now they are on the run for their lives.
As they head to Paris, the beautiful aviatrix Velva Jean Hart becomes Clementine Roux, a daring woman on a mission with her team to capture an operative known only as “Swan.” Once settled on Rue de la Néva, Clementine works as a spy with the Resistance and finds herself falling in love with her fellow agent, Émile, a handsome and mysterious Frenchman with secrets of his own. When Clementine ends up in the most brutal prison in Paris, trying to help Émile and the team rescue Swan, she discovers the depths of human cruelty, the triumph of her own spirit, and the bravery of her team, who will stop at nothing to carry out their mission.
Niven is the author of the popular Velva Jean novels, including Velva Jean Learns to Drive and Velva Jean Learns to Fly.
Synopsis
At the close of the last millennium, Helen Fielding debuted the irrepressible (and blockbuster-bestselling) Bridget Jones. Now, Fielding gives us a sensational new heroine for a new era...Move over 007, a stunning, sexy-and decidedly female-new player has entered the world of international espionage. Her name is Olivia Joules (that’s "J.O.U.L.E.S. the unit of kinetic energy") and she's ready to take America by storm with charm, style, and her infamous Overactive Imagination.
How could a girl not be drawn to the alluring, powerful Pierre Ferramo-he of the hooded eyes, impeccable taste, unimaginable wealth, exotic international homes, and dubious French accent? Could Ferramo really be a major terrorist bent on the Western world’s destruction, hiding behind a smokescreen of fine wines, yachts, and actresses slash models? Or is it all just a product of Olivia Joules’s overactive imagination?
Join Olivia in her heart-stopping, hilarious, nerve-frazzling quest from hip hotel to eco-lodge to underwater cave, by light aircraft, speedboat, helicopter, and horse, in this witty, contemporary, and utterly unputdownable novel deluxe.
About the Author
Helen Fielding, a journalist and a novelist, is the author of three previous novels, Bridget Jones's Diary, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, and Cause Celeb. She also co-wrote the screenplays for the movie of Bridget Jones's Diary and the forthcoming sequel based on Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason.