Hens Dancing - Tapa dura

Ten years ago, when Venetia Summers abandoned her life in London for marriage and a move to the countryside, it seemed that her future was set. But when her husband leaves her for his masseuse, suddenly she's a single mother of three, with no particular skills, living in the sticks and calling upon all her wit and resourcefulness to hold together her newly lopsided family. Hens Dancing follows Venetia's diaries over the course of a year as she tries to make the best of things, for her children and for herself. Venetia's battles are everyday ones - the house is crumbling and the garden a disaster, joint custody is traumatic for everyone concerned, and there's never enough money. But there are consolations: the kaleidoscopic loveliness of the Norfolk seasons, a houseful of animals, nighttime picnics, the regal serenity of Venetia's baby daughter - called simply The Beauty - and a new family closeness that has flowered amid the chaos. And perhaps, unexpectedly, the promise of new love.

rcee finds herself marooned in the countryside, surrounded by clutter, children, and hens. This charming, wickedly funny, exuberant novel is the talented young author's U.S. debut.