Publishers Weekly
An odd mix of silly, ridiculous, and inspiring, Daniels's charming if scattered debut follows the unlikely course of Barb Barrett, numb and adrift after losing custody of her children. In her rented upstate New York house where Vladimir Nabokov once lived, Barb finds a sheaf of index cards, a possible unfinished Nabokov manuscript about Babe Ruth. Her efforts to get the book evaluated and published are the first steps out of her endearingly depressive hibernation, introducing her to literary agent Margie and handsome carpenter Greg. When the manuscript is judged not to be Nabokov's, the story takes a questionable, wacky turn, as Barb opens a cathouse staffed by athletes from the local college to service the unfulfilled women of her small town. This endeavor, of course, provides the funds for her to mount a new fight for her children, the self-esteem to begin a relationship, and the confidence to find a fulfilling career. Despite the curiosities of the grief-to-gumption plot, Daniels's writing is slick and her characters richly detailed, and even when it dips into sheer goofiness, it's still a pleasure to read. (Mar.)
From the Publisher
“Daniels is warmly funny and audacious in this shrewd and saucy mix of family drama, gender discord, sexual healing, and high literature; a raucous yet sensitive tale of one quirky woman’s struggle to overcome the lowest of low self-esteem to get motherhood and love right.” —Booklist
Library Journal
Barb Barrett left her husband because they couldn't agree on how to load the dishwasher. In the divorce, he got the kids, the house, and the car, and she got her freedom. But she finds that freedom without her children is not all it's cracked up to be. To begin the process of getting them back, she buys a house once occupied by Vladimir Nabokov. While cleaning the house she finds a baseball/love story written on index cards. Could Nabokov have been the author? Could she turn this find into financial stability? While waiting for the experts to decide, she opens a day spa-cum-brothel under the guise of a research project and falls in love with a local carpenter and her ex-husband's dog. VERDICT Daniels writes her story with refreshingly eccentric twists, holding readers' interest despite the time-worn scenario. Her characters live and breathe, and the humor, energy, wit, and edgy look at small-town mores make this a delightful read. It will appeal to fiction readers, especially women.—Joanna Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Libs., Providence
Kirkus Reviews
Daniels' debut concerns Barb Barrett, a woman who's hit rock bottom.
Barb's marriage is over, and she's lost custody of her two young children. To make things grimmer yet, her husband ("the experson") has taken up romantically with the social worker assigned to their case. Reduced to making ends meet by answering letters sent to a local dairy ("We do not have 'free range' cows, as you suggest, because of the danger it would pose to motorists as well as to the cows themselves..."),Barb moves into a drafty, dreary house once occupied by Vladimir and Vera Nabokov, and soon—trying to find space for her daughter's extensive handbag collection—she finds, secreted in a chest of drawers, a novel manuscript that she decides must be (despite its being, it seems, a baseball book/love storyabout Babe Ruth) a lost Nabokov novel. This discovery leads to Barb's plan to remake herself: first as an author of "mature romances," second as the proprietor of a high-end cathouse that caters—under thethin guise of a) a day spa and b) an experiment in human ecology—to the neglected middle-aged women of her town (areimagined versionof Ithaca, N.Y.).In time shealso embarks on a love affair of her own with a virile, buff-chested carpenter named Greg Holder. If this sounds like standard romance, it is and it isn't. The Nabokovian stuff is a feint toward literariness that goes nowhere, andthe novel's conceit isby the numbers,the plot a bit creaky and a lot contrived. But Danielslargelysucceedsanyway, thanks to Barb's sardonic, perceptive voice.
Barb is finecompany—blunt, mordantly funny,with a winning combination of ruthlessness and warmth.
