Lies come easily to a lawyer… I am not trying to propound this as some kind of a universal truth, nor am I hinting that the statement is absolutely baseless. But there is no doubt that even lawyers find it difficult to stand by their lies when faced with the truth.
What if all your life you’ve pushed yourself to the limits to become successful in what you were doing, and then in a weak, indecisive moment you chuck it all out of the window. What if you want no more of the respect, fame, and luxuries you’ve struggled to acquire all your life, just to get away from everything and everyone who knows you? Is it worth running away from problems instead of trying to face them? What if the problems follow you wherever you go, or even get compounded because you don’t won’t to look at them as a mere problem but somehow convince yourself that it’s a larger than life blood s*cking monster that is baying for your very blood? Different people look at and react to a problem in a different way because they have different comfort zone levels, and different threshold limits.
Truth, like death, has an uncanny way of appearing when you least expect it, and running away from truth is like trying to runaway from death…. It invariably catches up with you.
Samantha Sweeting belongs to the cream of the legal fraternity. Working at London’s most prestigious law firm, Carter Spink, she is paid Pounds 500 an hour. She is a workaholic in an extreme sense of that term. Her entire life revolves around her career and work. All her waking thoughts and hours are spent at work forging a career but with not a thought to her non-existent home life.
She is forever peering at plots and plans but never bothering to touch pots and pans. Cooking a simple meal, or sewing on a button is, to her, rocket science. But, then she didn’t want anything to do with domesticity. She is a Goddess, alright, in her chosen profession… so, what if she’s a domestic disaster.
Samantha’s greatest asset is her quick-silver brain, as also her tenacity. But, she is more than a little tardy when it comes to keeping her desk clean. At any given time, her desk is always cluttered with documents waiting to be scrutinized, disposed off, or filed. It is surprising how sharp minds tend to be a little sloppy in the way they work; their quality is impressive but they show a certain disinclination towards method and procedure.
Struggling for the last 12 years, Samantha is now on the threshold of realizing her dreams. She is 29 years old and about to become the youngest partner of the most famous and respectable law firm in London. Her thoughts wander to the time she was 8, she remembers distinctly what her mother said to her… “You thrive under pressure, Samantha. Our whole family thrives under pressure. It’s like our family motto or something.” At last, she can relax and savour the moment.
While pushing yet another file underneath the mountain on her desk, Sam succeeds only in creating a landslide as most of the files cascade down. Resolving for the umpteenth time to tidy up, Sam stoops to gather and finds herself staring at some mortgage documents that should have been registered within 21 days of disbursing the loan. On further scrutiny she finds that the loan disbursed was a whopping Pounds 50 Million disbursed by a Bank to their clients and even more unnerving is the fact that the date of registration of security is past. Gob smacked, Sam stares blankly at the documents unable to recollect a thing about the papers being on her desk.
Sam remembers what Guy, her associate, had said during one of their talks. “Oh, I make plenty of mistakes, believe me” Samantha had said. “A mistake isn’t a mistake… unless it can’t be put right, ” was the reply from Guy.
Gathering strength from that she believes there is still hope, she can pull it of. A few fervent calls bring her even more bad news. The company, Glazerbrooks, has gone bankrupt and the receivers have been called in. The first thing she realizes at that moment is that her career is finished. Her knees start trembling and suddenly she feels weak and unable to think coherently. She decides she needs to get away fast from the office. She needs to go somewhere far, get some fresh air, and take her mind of this suffocating feeling. Maybe, she can come back the next day better prepared to explain everything.
The next day never comes as Sam is caught in a vortex of events that hurtle her towards the kind of life she’s never known. What follows is a sequence of hilarious events that tickle your funny bone. At the same time you feel like you want to empathize with and protect Sam, you want to take care of her.
Sam is mistakenly offered the job of a housekeeper by a middle aged, rich, country couple, and caught in the flow of events, accepts it. She decides that she will tell the couple after a few days, after her jittery nerves have settled down, that it was all a misunderstanding and she is not the maid they had requested for through a recruiting agency. Her job is to cook, clean, and sweep. What a turnaround… from the mighty corridors of law to the humble brushing of the loo.
Sam discovers a side to her she never knew existed. For 12 years she worked like an automaton, now she realizes that she has feelings she never experienced before. She is attracted to an understanding and caring gardener, Nathaniel. But, there is a catch, Nathaniel hates lawyers as he holds them responsible for his father’s death. Even Samantha isn’t too eager to tell anyone about her past which she has tucked away somewhere in the deepest recesses of her memory. She is happy with her new found love, and happy to lead the slow paced life of a humble housekeeper. She has put in her heart and soul in learning the domestic chores with the help of Nathaniel’s mother. The unbelievable transformation from a completely undomestic female to a perfect domestic housekeeper is as satisfying as it is hilarious.
Will Samantha’s new found happiness last?
Will the demons from her past come back to haunt her?
Did she really screw up on the mortgage, or was she framed?
Can Samantha make the right decision, this time round?
If you are really curious about knowing where this story leads to, you have to go get yourself a copy immediately, and dig into it.
The book authored by Sophia Kinsella makes an interesting read. Set in London, the story is laced with the unmistakable English wit. The story falls in the chiclit genre and some of the situations appear to be contrived to make the story sound more plausible. But, if you are an harassed and overburdened worker, you will be able to identify with the character of Samantha Sweeting who had no other goal except to rise high in her career sacrificing the most important years of her life… her youth.
Some improbable situations not withstanding, I enjoyed reading this book.
mbfarookh