Review by Booklist Review
The Real Housewives meets Downton Abbey in this modern-day comedy of manners. In the idyllic countryside of Oxfordshire, everyone in the Bottoms is abuzz about the arrival of a wealthy American divorcée. Meanwhile, after an argument with her husband, Tata Hawkins has decamped with her daughter and butler, Ian, to the coach house, and her two best friends are in the midst of their own relationship problems. Luckily, the ever-professional Ian and his cool head have a plan for everything. Whether matchmaking, plotting a reunion between Tata and her husband, or planning a birthday bash, the always-competent Ian intends to set the Bottoms to rights. Full of sly commentary (everyone is described by their real age as well as the age they appear), this novel isn't forging any new ground, but readers wanting an escapist, dishy read about the moneyed country elite may find it diverting. Hand it to fans of Kevin Kwan's Crazy Rich Asians (2013) or Jenny Jackson's Pineapple Street (2023).
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
Sykes's (Bergdorf Blondes) new novel moves from New York to the English countryside but maintains her humorous focus on the elite lives of rich (though not always happy) women. The Oxfordshire villages of Little Bottom, Middle Bottom, Great Bottom, and Monkton Bottom ("the Bottoms") have been overrun by wealthy families building their country homes--near enough to London for the husbands to commute to work, and far enough for the wives to set up their own social hierarchy. First among those wives is Tata Hawkins, wife of Bryan and employer of executive butler Ian. Tata has quarreled with Bryan and moved herself, her daughter, and Ian to their coach house. She won't move home until Bryan apologizes and begs her to come back, but Bryan has dug in and refuses to do so. Caught in the middle is Ian, who longs to return to the manor house and the social standing he derives from Tata's status. While Tata wrestles with her marital woes, her friends Fernanda and Sophie and new neighbor Selby Fairfax all face their own personal struggles. It will take a cast of several, led by Ian, to restore the loves and lives of the inhabitants of the Bottoms. VERDICT Light and fun with just a hint of gentle satire, this novel will delight Sykes's fans.--Jane Jorgenson
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
The world's most competent butler navigates a storm of romantic and financial complications among the British elite. Sykes gives Kevin Kwan a run for his money in this saga of obscene wealth, designer outfits, miniature dog breeds, and over-the-top landscaping set in Oxfordshire, a rural area of vast estates now mostly in the hands of the nouveau riche. Ian Palmer, a summa cum laude graduate of the Greycoats' Butler Institute in Mayfair, is known not just for his impeccable outfits, his Colin-Firth-in-A-Single-Man eyeglasses, and his vintage Gucci loafer collection, but for his superhuman ability to manage his employers' lives. His boss, Tata Hawkins, needs his help as never before since her businessman husband, Bryan, has opened a spot in his in-house mentoring program to a "bikini influencer" named Tallulah de Sanchez ("twenty-six, looked thirty-six due to addiction to eyelash extensions and lip fillers") and her dog, Pikachu. (As Kwan does with educational resumes, Sykes intros each character with a beady-eyed assessment of their real and apparent ages.) Infuriated by finding a receipt in Bryan's office for a piece of jewelry that certainly wasn't a gift for her, Tata has taken her beloved factotum and her daughter, Minty, and decamped to a guesthouse on the property, creating a tsunami of snarky gossip and leaving Ian with nowhere appropriate to store his loafer collection. Of course the solution involves throwing a massive party--supposedly an intimate "Kitchen Supper"--to welcome the area's newest arriviste, an American named Selby Fairfax, and naturally this causes Tata's friends to compete by throwing their own parties, one of which is a hilariously elaborate equestrian event called a hack. Poor Selby has had to flee New York after her husband very publicly left her for his boyfriend, but Sykes thoughtfully provides her with a Mr. Darcy, a hot, rich farmer who storms into the story when her children accidentally kill his cow. Crazy Rich Brits may not have the amazing cuisine of their Asian counterparts, but they are just as scheming, fabulous, and fun to read about. If you like this sort of thing, you'll dive in and never look back. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
