Vinegar Girl
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By Anne Tyler
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‘A thoroughly modern love story’ Guardian, Book of the Year
Kate Battista is stuck.
How did she end up running house and home for her eccentric scientist father and infuriating younger sister Bunny?
Dr Battista has other problems. His brilliant young lab assistant, Pyotr, is about to be deported. And without Pyotr, his new scientific breakthrough will fall through…
When Dr Battista cooks up an outrageous plan that will enable Pyotr to stay in the country, he’s relying – as usual – on Kate to help him. Will Kate be able to resist the two men’s touchingly ludicrous campaign to win her round?
Anne Tyler’s brilliant retelling of The Taming of the Shrew asks whether a thoroughly modern woman like Kate would ever sacrifice herself for a man. The answer is as surprising as Kate herself.
ANNE TYLER HAS SOLD OVER 8 MILLION BOOKS WORLDWIDE
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Written by Anne Tyler and read as part of the Summer Reading Challenge, this is a retelling of The Taming of the Shrew.
Kate is a reluctant pre-school teacher who lives at home with her ageing father, an academic. He's on the verge of a scientific breakthrough. He is also about to lose his brilliant Eastern European lab assistant, Pyotr, whose visa is about to expire. Unless he can persuade Kate to marry him!
While Tyler has a lot of fun with this, it never rings entirely true. We felt that maybe her hands were tied with this tribute. She's an author who is perfectly capable of creating her own world without borrowing someone else's. Verdict? Fun, accomplished, readable and enjoyable. But if you're looking for the true Anne Tyler stick to her originals ... they do so much more.
