A hilarious, multi-layered, modern mashup of Don Quixote, Cold Comfort Farm,and The Thirteenth Tale, The Seductive Lady Vanessa of Manhattanshire is an ingenious must-read for fans of romantic fiction, literary satire, and books about books.
Famous Arabic translator Oona Noor receives a mysterious manuscript from Cairo entitled The Seductive Lady Vanessa of Manhattanshire and realizes she has discovered a masterpiece. The book, written by an unknown author named Aisha Benengeli, spins the tale of Maxine More, a divorced, romance novel–obsessed New Yorker who envisions herself as a Georgian Lady and sees the world entirely through the prism of her beloved books. Designating her cleaning lady Magdalena Cruz as her lady-in-waiting, Lady Vee embarks on a series of misadventures. She mistakes a plumber for a famous alpha male; pursues her poodle-owning crush, Nelson Dodge; dispenses misguided advice to the lovelorn and goes man-hunting on New York’s Upper East Side. Heartbroken when the manuscript ends abruptly, translator Noor journeys to Cairo, hunts for the concluding pages, and uncovers a stunning confession from Lady Vee’s creator Benengeli about her own romantic troubles. As the author struggles to find happiness for her crazed character and herself, the translator desperately searches for the elusive writer. In the end, this delightfully inventive novel unspools three tales about three very different women, each on a quest for a perfect love story.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Famous Arabic translator Oona Noor receives a mysterious manuscript from Cairo entitled The Seductive Lady Vanessa of Manhattanshire and realizes she has discovered a masterpiece. The book, written by an unknown author named Aisha Benengeli, spins the tale of Maxine More, a divorced, romance novel–obsessed New Yorker who envisions herself as a Georgian Lady and sees the world entirely through the prism of her beloved books. Designating her cleaning lady Magdalena Cruz as her lady-in-waiting, Lady Vee embarks on a series of misadventures. She mistakes a plumber for a famous alpha male; pursues her poodle-owning crush, Nelson Dodge; dispenses misguided advice to the lovelorn and goes man-hunting on New York’s Upper East Side. Heartbroken when the manuscript ends abruptly, translator Noor journeys to Cairo, hunts for the concluding pages, and uncovers a stunning confession from Lady Vee’s creator Benengeli about her own romantic troubles. As the author struggles to find happiness for her crazed character and herself, the translator desperately searches for the elusive writer. In the end, this delightfully inventive novel unspools three tales about three very different women, each on a quest for a perfect love story.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Praise for this book
"Kaufman has written a witty and utterly original take on the Don Quixote story - charming and unexpected." - Miranda Cowley Heller
"The Seductive Lady Vanessa is tailor-made for all book addicts seeking fun, adventure, and laughter. But romance fans will find themselves particularly smitten as Lady Vee and her Brooklyn-born lady-in-waiting caper through modern Manhattan(shire) looking for love in all the wrong places. Like its forerunners Don Quixote and Pride and Prejudice, the book smuggles in deep human issues amid the antics: addiction in sneaky modern forms, loneliness amid vast crowds, and acceptance of self as a bridge to freedom. This is a wonderful, sharp, and laugh-out-loud work that takes a kind-eyed look at the risks, struggles, and rewards of wanting a little love now." - Robin McLean
"Mad times call for mad literature. Seth Kaufman's zany and hilarious re-interpretation of the Don Quixote legend, via a delusional, middle-aged, romance novel junkie on the Upper West Side, lives up to the challenge. Also, it has a happy ending! Insofar as the novel otherwise defies description, I strongly recommend you read it yourself." - Lucinda Rosenfeld
"The Seductive Lady Vanessa is tailor-made for all book addicts seeking fun, adventure, and laughter. But romance fans will find themselves particularly smitten as Lady Vee and her Brooklyn-born lady-in-waiting caper through modern Manhattan(shire) looking for love in all the wrong places. Like its forerunners Don Quixote and Pride and Prejudice, the book smuggles in deep human issues amid the antics: addiction in sneaky modern forms, loneliness amid vast crowds, and acceptance of self as a bridge to freedom. This is a wonderful, sharp, and laugh-out-loud work that takes a kind-eyed look at the risks, struggles, and rewards of wanting a little love now." - Robin McLean
"Mad times call for mad literature. Seth Kaufman's zany and hilarious re-interpretation of the Don Quixote legend, via a delusional, middle-aged, romance novel junkie on the Upper West Side, lives up to the challenge. Also, it has a happy ending! Insofar as the novel otherwise defies description, I strongly recommend you read it yourself." - Lucinda Rosenfeld
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