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Sail away / Celia Imrie.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: London, England : Bloomsbury, 2018Copyright date: ©2018Description: 362 pages ; 22 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781408883235
  • 1408883236
Subject(s): Genre/Form: Summary: The phone hasn't rung for months. Suzy Marshall is discovering that work can be sluggish for an actress over sixty - even for the former star of a 1980s TV series. So when she's offered the plum role of Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest in Zurich, it seems like a godsend. Until, that is, the play is abruptly cancelled in suspicious circumstances, and Suzy is forced to take a job on a cruise ship to get home. Meanwhile Amanda Herbert finds herself homeless in rainy Clapham. Her flat purchase has fallen through, and her children are absorbed in their own dramas. Then she spots an advertisement for an Atlantic cruise, and realises a few weeks on-board would tide her over - and save her money - until the crisis is solved. As the two women set sail on a new adventure, neither can possibly predict the strange characters and dodgy dealings they will encounter - nor the unexpected rewards they will reap.
Holdings
Item type Current library Collection Call number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Fiction Mobile Library Fiction Collection (New) Fiction Collection (New) IMRI Checked out 17/05/2024 T00805650
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The deliciously witty, irresistible new novel from the top ten Sunday Times bestselling author of Not Quite Nice follows the exploits of two women on an Atlantic cruise ship The phone hasn't rung for months. Suzy Marshall is discovering that work can be sluggish for an actress over sixty - even for the former star of a 1980s TV series. So when she's offered the plum role of Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest in Zurich, it seems like a godsend. Until, that is, the play is abruptly cancelled in suspicious circumstances, and Suzy is forced to take a job on a cruise ship to get home. Meanwhile Amanda Herbert finds herself homeless in rainy Clapham. Her flat purchase has fallen through, and her children are absorbed in their own dramas. Then she spots an advertisement for an Atlantic cruise, and realises a few weeks on-board would tide her over - and save her money - until the crisis is solved. As the two women set sail on a new adventure, neither can possibly predict the strange characters and dodgy dealings they will encounter - nor the unexpected rewards they will reap. Vividly evoking the old-world glamour of a cruise ship - and the complex politics of its staff quarters - Sail Away is at once a hilarious romp and a thrilling tale of intrigue, from the acclaimed pen of Celia Imrie.

The phone hasn't rung for months. Suzy Marshall is discovering that work can be sluggish for an actress over sixty - even for the former star of a 1980s TV series. So when she's offered the plum role of Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest in Zurich, it seems like a godsend. Until, that is, the play is abruptly cancelled in suspicious circumstances, and Suzy is forced to take a job on a cruise ship to get home. Meanwhile Amanda Herbert finds herself homeless in rainy Clapham. Her flat purchase has fallen through, and her children are absorbed in their own dramas. Then she spots an advertisement for an Atlantic cruise, and realises a few weeks on-board would tide her over - and save her money - until the crisis is solved. As the two women set sail on a new adventure, neither can possibly predict the strange characters and dodgy dealings they will encounter - nor the unexpected rewards they will reap.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

For "actress of a certain age" Suzy -Marshall, securing roles is no easy task-even with her impressive list of theater and film credits. So she is thrilled to play the part of Lady Bracknell in a Zurich production of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. Her delight quickly turns to dismay, however, as the production is underfunded, underrehearsed, conceptually flawed, and, as if that wasn't bad enough, is abruptly canceled. Stranded in Europe, Suzy is forced to take a job on a cruise ship to get home to London. Meanwhile, Amanda Herbert has finally moved out of the large old house where she raised her children-only to find that the charming flat she's purchased won't be available for weeks. Temporarily homeless, Amanda decides to enjoy a holiday aboard a cruise ship. As the women traverse the Atlantic, they begin to realize that Suzy's slightly seedy theater production disguised a more nefarious operation. VERDICT Coincidences abound in this light comic novel by a British character actress and author (Not Quite Nice), featuring two middle-aged women who find friendship and unravel a mystery, with a supporting cast of mildly eccentric fellow travelers.-Lindsay Morton, P.L. of Science, San Francisco © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

British actress Imrie's first two novels were set on the Cote d'Azur. Her latest romp is set on a cruise ship sailing from that coast to New York and centers on two sixtysomething women whose lives become inextricably entangled. Suzy, a former British TV star, feels lucky to land a part in a play in a small Zurich playhouse. Just before opening, the show is mysteriously cancelled, the actors left unpaid. Suzy discovers a job opening on the Blue Mermaid, sailing from Genoa, so she races to the ship just as it sets sail. The ship stops briefly in Southampton, where widow Amanda Herbert boards, and the two women strike up a friendship. They experience many adventures during a 10-day Atlantic crossing that is complicated by the presence of a suspected pedophile who coincidentally is both the producer of Suzy's erstwhile play and the previous owner of Amanda's new apartment. The several plot lines are confusing and improbable, hence difficult to follow, but Imrie's tale, like her earlier ones, is stocked with engaging characters.--Donovan, Deborah Copyright 2010 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

Acting roles are pretty sparse for women over 60, so British actress Suzy Marshall seizes the opportunity to play Lady Bracknell in a Swiss production of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. Things go terribly awry, though, and she unexpectedly finds herself playing detective on a cruise ship.Suzy might have seen the writing on the wall earlier: Reg, the director, had some very strange ideas, including desecrating the famous handbag scene with a barbershop quartet, and the actors' flights to Zurich were all cobbled together with last-minute tickets. Luckily, her fellow actors were marvelousexcept for whiny Stan Arbuthnotespecially Jason Scott, a young man eager to plot with Suzy behind Reg's back. Yet the morning after Jason escapes a sketchy party hosted by the play's financial backer, the play is suddenly cancelled, return plane tickets voided, and all the actors' bank accounts drained. Suzy and Jason land entertainment jobs aboard the Blue Mermaid, a ship bound for New York. Together they begin some online sleuthing, trying to piece together what happened in Zurich. Meanwhile, Amanda Herbert has found herself homeless for a few weeks, pending the closing of her purchase of a London flat from a jittery seller. Treating herself to a cruise sounds wonderful, and soon, via internet, Amanda takes possession of the flat, letting her son housesit for her. All is well until Amanda's son is mysteriously arrested. With sly, charming villains committing dastardly deeds, Olivier award-winning actor Imrie (Nice Work (If You Can Get It), 2016, etc.) brings her own theatrical experience to bear on this refreshing whodunit, carefully tightening the strings bringing Amanda, Suzy, Jason, the villain, and a constellation of quirky characters (including Myriam La-Grande-Motte with her hilarious malapropisms) together.This charming collision of Agatha Christie and The Love Boat will delight fans of classic mysteries. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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