To Kitty, growing up at Hay House, surrounded by bluebell woods and doting relations, is heaven. But for her mother, the restless Marina, a silver-eyed beauty who paints and weeps with alacrity, Hay cannot provide the novelty or excitement she so craves. Swami-ji, Marina's guru, sees her future in New York, and so the family is scooped up and relocated, leaving Kitty exiled in a colourless boarding school. Reprieve comes in the form of the guru's summons to the ashram, but then, just as Kitty is approaching enlightenment, ...
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To Kitty, growing up at Hay House, surrounded by bluebell woods and doting relations, is heaven. But for her mother, the restless Marina, a silver-eyed beauty who paints and weeps with alacrity, Hay cannot provide the novelty or excitement she so craves. Swami-ji, Marina's guru, sees her future in New York, and so the family is scooped up and relocated, leaving Kitty exiled in a colourless boarding school. Reprieve comes in the form of the guru's summons to the ashram, but then, just as Kitty is approaching enlightenment, they are off again, leaving everything behind to come back to an England that is fast and unfamiliar. This time no God, man or martini can staunch Marina's hunger for a happiness that proves all too elusive. And Kitty, turning fourteen, must choose: whether to play dangerous games with the grown-ups or to finally put herself first. Witty, lyrical and heartbreaking, Playing with the Grown-ups is a modern coming-of-age story that heralds the arrival of a unique new talent.
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Seller's Description:
Like New. 2008. First Edition. Paperback. The first full-length novel from the international supermodel and granddaughter of Roald Dahl Num Pages: 304 pages. BIC Classification: FA. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 197 x 129 x 20. Weight in Grams: 208......We ship daily from our Bookshop.
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Seller's Description:
Dispatched, from the UK, within 48 hours of ordering. Though second-hand, the book is still in very good shape. Minimal signs of usage may include very minor creasing on the cover or on the spine. Aged book. Tanned pages and age spots, however, this will not interfere with reading.
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Seller's Description:
Dispatched, from the UK, within 48 hours of ordering. This book is in good condition but will show signs of previous ownership. Please expect some creasing to the spine and/or minor damage to the cover. Damaged book. Slightly damaged in some way typically, a grazed corner or torn cover.
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Seller's Description:
Dispatched, from the UK, within 48 hours of ordering. Though second-hand, the book is still in very good shape. Minimal signs of usage may include very minor creasing on the cover or on the spine.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Dispatched, from the UK, within 48 hours of ordering. This book is in good condition but will show signs of previous ownership. Please expect some creasing to the spine and/or minor damage to the cover. Grubby book may have mild dirt or some staining, mostly on the edges of pages.
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Seller's Description:
Good. All orders are dispatched within 1 working day from our UK warehouse. Established in 2004, we are dedicated to recycling unwanted books on behalf of a number of UK charities who benefit from added revenue through the sale of their books plus huge savings in waste disposal. No quibble refund if not completely satisfied.
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Seller's Description:
Fine unused condition. This book is in stock now, in our UK premises. Photos of our books are available on request (the pictures you see on Alibris are NOT our own).
Playing With Grown-ups tells the story of Kitty who is growing up with a troubled family. Most of the family's trouble's center around her rather flighty mother, Marina. Her mother is the source of all of Kitty's trials. From joining a cult to experimenting with drugs?all her behavior clearly mirrors the more seriously troubled behavior of her mother. Her mother is too self-centered and selfish to pay any real attention to Kitty and Kitty desperately craves her mother's love. The story begins with Kitty being phoned in the middle of the night with the information that something has happened to her mother and follows her through her reminisces about her adolescence.
I was really entertained by this book. I loved Kitty. I wanted to give her my mother for a week. My mother has an over-abundance of affection that I would love to rent out to anyone who needs it and Kitty definitely needs it. As much as I loved Kitty, I wanted to strangle Marina. How selfish can one person be? People like Marina should not be allowed to reproduce. Kitty would have been much better of in Hay with Bestemama and Bestepapa. I was a bit disappointed that they did not play a bigger role in the novel. But then again, if they did, Kitty would not have had much of a story. I thought this book was dark in the right places and funny in others. The writing was effective as it was able to bring out some intense feeling in me. I did feel, however, that the ending was a bit unsatisfying. It was obvious where the book was going to end up but I wanted to see how Kitty got there. I wanted to meet the man she married, know how she met him and how she redeemed herself from her previous downward spiral. That perhaps is the stuff of a longer novel.
Sophie Dahl is a very talented writer and I look forward to her future novels.
