CURL UP WITH INTROS/TEASERS — “A DESIRABLE RESIDENCE”

Welcome to another Tuesday celebrating bookish events, from Tuesday/First Chapter/Intros, hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea; and Teaser Tuesdays hosted by Should Be Reading.

Today’s featured book is A Desirable Residence, by Madeleine Wickham.

Intro:  There wasn’t much point, Liz told herself, in getting upset.  It wasn’t his fault, poor man.  The estate agent had finished talking, and was looking at her concernedly, expecting a response.  To gain time, she glanced out of the sash window of the office, the panes bright with the sun and raindrops of a confused September’s day.  There was a little courtyard garden outside, walled, with a white wrought-iron bench and tubs of flowers.  It must be nice in the summer, she thought, forgetting that this still was, to all intents and purposes, the summer.  Her mind always worked at least half a term ahead.

‘Mrs. Chambers…?’

‘Oh, yes, sorry,’ said Liz, and turned back.  ‘I was listening.’  She smiled at the estate agent.  He didn’t smile back.

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Teaser:  But Ginny did know.  She knew that she had somehow a strange ability to find an attraction in almost any kind of residence, be it a tiny flat or a manor house.  Confronted with the meanest little house, she was always able to construct in her own mind a charming hypothetical life there, imbuing on it a vicarious, often quite undeserved appeal. (p. 67)

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Amazon Description:   From the author of the internationally bestselling Sophie Kinsella novels, Madeleine Wickham’s newest novel features a house whose asking price includes a stunning renovation of dreams and hearts…

Liz and Jonathan Chambers were stuck with two mortgages, mounting debts and a miserable adolescent daughter.  Then Marcus Witherstone came into their lives – and it seemed he would solve all their problems.  He knew the perfect tenants from London who would rent their old house: a glamorous PR girl, Ginny, and  her almost-famous husband, Piers. But soon Liz is lost in blissful dreams of Marcus, Jonathan is left to run their tutorial college, and neither of them has time to notice that their teenage daughter is developing a passion for the tenants, Piers and Ginny. Everyone is entangled with everyone else, in the most awkward possible way. And as events close in, they all begin to realize that some deceptions are just a bit too close to home.

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What do you think?  Does it capture your interest?  Would you keep reading?

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