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Wives Like Us

The perfect holiday read

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Wives Like Us

By: Plum Sykes
Narrated by: Annabel Mullion
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Summary
 Bloomsbury presents Wives Like Us by Plum Sykes, read by Annabel Mullion.

'Outrageously Jilly Cooperesque' Sunday Times Style

Readers love Wives Like Us...
'I devoured this in one day' *****
'Gloriously good fun' *****
'Absolutely delightful' *****

No one knows better than Ian Palmer – Executive Butler – that social position is everything in the rose-strewn Cotswolds.

So when his boss, Tata Hawkins, flounces out of her (new-build) manor house after a row with husband Bryan, Ian is alarmed: for one thing, if Tata is on the social slide downwards, that means he is too; for another, he’s lost his home and has nowhere to store his prized collection of vintage Gucci loafers; even worse, a vacuum among the Country Princess set has opened up for a new Queen Bee.

With the old-money Pennybacker-Hoare sisters plotting to rid ‘their’ county of Tata and her ilk, a bikini influencer on the prowl for a husband just like Mr. Hawkins, a glamorous American divorcee threatening to steal Tata's crown, and the heiress-next-door threatening to steal Ian, the Cotswolds are in chaos.

Can Ian restore Tata’s country crown and reinstate her to the comforts of the Manor?

‘A forensically well-observed narrative . . . a shiny satirette of country living where everyone is unmuddied but filthy rich.’ The Times

‘It may finally be time for Jilly [Cooper] to make way for a new chronicler of Cotswolds life.' Daily Mail Friendship Genre Fiction Literature & Fiction Romantic Comedy Marriage Funny Heartfelt Witty

Critic Reviews

Outrageously Jilly Cooperesque
The brilliantly satirical new novel that's got the Cotswolds smart set buzzing with speculation ... it may be finally time for Jilly [Cooper] to make way for a new chronicler of Cotswolds life.
A forensically well-observed narrative ... will it do for the Cotswolds what F Scott Fitzgerald did for the Hamptons ... a shiny satirette of country living where everyone is unmuddied but filthy rich.
A stiletto-sharp look at the glamorous end of the Cotswolds. I loved it! (Katie Fforde)
A fabulous and funny bucolic romp - Plum Sykes does it again. (Hannah Rothschild, author of The Improbability of Love)
Wives Like Us made me laugh so hard I actually knocked over my lamp. Can a book be so wickedly smart, so effortless, so chic and hilarious that you would stumble through the night to find a new lightbulb just so you can keep reading way past your bedtime? In a word, yes. Plum Sykes is in a class of her own when it comes to peeling back the layers of status paranoia amongst the poshest of the posh as she delivers a delectable tale that you never want to end. I would risk all the lamps in my house to read stand-alone novels about every single character in this book! (Kevin Kwan, author of Crazy Rich Asians)
Wives Like Us may be set in the most gorgeous English manor house, but I'd happily sleep in the shed if it meant I could tag along with these marvelous characters - Tata, Minty, and their chic and crafty butler. (Jenny Jackson, author of Pineapple Street)
Delightful
I adored Wives Like Us, I thought it was so fun and funny, a romp and a riot - and a glorious dollop of much needed escapism. (Daisy Buchanan)
A riotous romp ... Her unique blend of shrewd social commentary and knowing humour, with a dash of what she calls 'affectionate satire', is reminiscent of Nancy Mitford, PG Wodehouse and Evelyn Waugh.
A comedy of manners with an emphasis on the comedy ... In Sykes's skilled and observant hands, however, madcap fare is always more than just a good time, it's a nuanced look inside a specific world, where even the most humorous happenings can tell us something meaningful about the decidedly less glamorous lives we mere readers live.
Wickedly funny
Hotly-anticipated
An amusing flight of fancy ... Wives Like Us is more Sex and the City - or Sex and the Shires - than The Code of the Woosters. It mocks its subjects while glamorising them. The book is also something of a roman à clef.
The best-accessorised novel of the season.
Fabulously glamorous and gossipy. (Louise Roe, Sheerluxe)
It's stuffed with fascinating characters wearing fabulous clothes. I loved it.
A riotous, delightful read.
All stars
Most relevant
I adored this book. Such fun and all the glamorous details I enjoy. At home with my newborn and it was a delicious escape from nighttime feedings.

Delightful

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Such a fun book with excellent narration. A wonderful escape to the enchanting English countryside combined with some superb one liners. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Wonderful & Lighthearted

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The narrator's American accents were distractingly abysmal. How could you cast someone who can't pronounce an American R when Selby is such a prominent character? Even in her native British accent she pronounced lapel as though it rhymed with maple. Grating.
Story wise - meh fine for a holiday read. Simplistic plot could have progressed just as well without characters acting in such moronic and unbelievable ways.

Fell short

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If you need a LOL title to listen to, this is the one!
Beautifully performed / presented , I thoroughly enjoyed the story, the settings and the dialogue

Hilarious

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What a disappointment. Not amusing and predictable. I hung in there to the bitter end hoping it would improve. Wish I could find one positive .

How the reviews of this book lied

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