by Lucy Ellmann
First published 1999
Eloise has no job and no friends. She calls herself a hermit and avoids the world after too many bad experiences with milkmen. She limits her contact with people to letters she writes to the Queen and companies that make toilet roll holders. But she cannot stop wanting George, an American poet she knows. George has left his marriage and his routine of lettuce soup behind. He comes to England planning to find Eloise. Instead he gets sidetracked by pinball machines. While Eloise sits alone writing her letters, George wanders around playing games. The story follows these two people who want each other but cannot connect. Eloise hides from the world but dreams of love. George travels across an ocean but loses focus when he arrives. Their missed connection drives the book forward. Ellmann writes about the gap between what people want and what they actually do about it.
Genres: romance, literary-fiction, contemporary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, fish-out-of-water
Setting: England
Period: contemporary
240 pages · Paperback · Headline Review