Cheer Up, Mr. Widdicombe
New York : Atria Books, 2019.
Format: Book
Edition: First Atria Books hardcover edition.
Description: 277 pages ; 22 cm
Named one of 2019's most anticipated reads by Entertainment Weekly , "a hilarious and witty joy of a novel about a family's insanely dramatic summer at their new island home" ( Cosmopolitan ) in the Pacific Northwest.
The inimitable--some might say incorrigible--Frank Widdicombe is suffering from a deep depression. Or so his wife, Carol, believes. But Carol is convinced that their new island home--Willowbrook Manor on the Puget Sound--is just the thing to cheer him up. And so begins a whirlwind summer as their house becomes the epicenter of multiple social dramas involving the family, their friends, and a host of new acquaintances.
The Widdicombes' son, Christopher, is mourning a heartbreak after a year abroad in Italy. Their personal assistant, Michelle, begins a romance with preppy screenwriter Bradford, who also happens to be Frank's tennis partner. Meanwhile, a local named Marvelous Matthews is hired to create a garden at the manor--and is elated to find Gracie Sloane, bewitching self-help author, in residence as well. When this alternately bumbling and clever cast of characters comes together, they turn "as frothy and bitter as a pot of freshly brewed dark-roast coffee, the kind that's always available on the Widdicombe's sideboard. And the dialogue, oh how it singes and sears" ( The Washington Post ).
A "gleefully over-the-top satiric debut" ( Kirkus Reviews ), Cheer Up, Mr. Widdicombe is perfect for fans of Maria Semple's Where'd You Go, Bernadette? , Andrew Sean Greer's Less , and Jess Walter's Beautiful Ruins.
The inimitable--some might say incorrigible--Frank Widdicombe is suffering from a deep depression. Or so his wife, Carol, believes. But Carol is convinced that their new island home--Willowbrook Manor on the Puget Sound--is just the thing to cheer him up. And so begins a whirlwind summer as their house becomes the epicenter of multiple social dramas involving the family, their friends, and a host of new acquaintances.
The Widdicombes' son, Christopher, is mourning a heartbreak after a year abroad in Italy. Their personal assistant, Michelle, begins a romance with preppy screenwriter Bradford, who also happens to be Frank's tennis partner. Meanwhile, a local named Marvelous Matthews is hired to create a garden at the manor--and is elated to find Gracie Sloane, bewitching self-help author, in residence as well. When this alternately bumbling and clever cast of characters comes together, they turn "as frothy and bitter as a pot of freshly brewed dark-roast coffee, the kind that's always available on the Widdicombe's sideboard. And the dialogue, oh how it singes and sears" ( The Washington Post ).
A "gleefully over-the-top satiric debut" ( Kirkus Reviews ), Cheer Up, Mr. Widdicombe is perfect for fans of Maria Semple's Where'd You Go, Bernadette? , Andrew Sean Greer's Less , and Jess Walter's Beautiful Ruins.
ISBN:
9781501199615 (hardcover : alk. paper)
Availability | |||
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Call Number | Location | Shelf Location | Status |
F James | Main (Downtown) | Second Level, Fiction | In |