WorldCat Linked Data Explorer

Turtle N-Triple JSON-LD RDF/XML HTML Contact Us Home

http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/135534376

The good plain cook

It's summer 1936, and the world is on the cusp of change, but there's little sign of this in rural Sussex. So when Kitty Allen answers an advert looking for 'a good plain cook', she has no idea what she's in for. For starters, her employer is an American called Ellen Steinberg who believes in having the staff call her by her first name and sunbathing in the nude. Then there's Ellen's eleven-year-old daughter, Geenie, a bright, unhappy little thing, and Mrs Steinberg's gentleman friend, Mr Crane, who's said to be a poet - even though he doesn't have a beard and doesn't actually write much poetry. Rich bohemians imagining themselves as communists, Steinberg and Crane see themselves as champions of 'the people' - not that they know the first thing about how the people actually live. Kitty is in no position to criticise - after all she claimed to be a good plain cook, despite hardly knowing how to boil an egg. Utterly out of her depth, she is relieved to have the gardener, Arthur, to talk to. Otherwise she'd never last a summer in this madhouse. Ellen Steinberg wants life to run as smoothly as the love story she imagines her lover George Crane to be writing. But as Kitty arrives, the dream is on the edge of falling apart.

Open All Close All

type

about

author

contributor

creator

description

http://schema.org/description

  • "It's summer 1936, and the world is on the cusp of change, but there's little sign of this in rural Sussex. So when Kitty Allen answers an advert looking for 'a good plain cook', she has no idea what she's in for. For starters, her employer is an American called Ellen Steinberg who believes in having the staff call her by her first name and sunbathing in the nude. Then there's Ellen's eleven-year-old daughter, Geenie, a bright, unhappy little thing, and Mrs Steinberg's gentleman friend, Mr Crane, who's said to be a poet - even though he doesn't have a beard and doesn't actually write much poetry. Rich bohemians imagining themselves as communists, Steinberg and Crane see themselves as champions of 'the people' - not that they know the first thing about how the people actually live. Kitty is in no position to criticise - after all she claimed to be a good plain cook, despite hardly knowing how to boil an egg. Utterly out of her depth, she is relieved to have the gardener, Arthur, to talk to. Otherwise she'd never last a summer in this madhouse. Ellen Steinberg wants life to run as smoothly as the love story she imagines her lover George Crane to be writing. But as Kitty arrives, the dream is on the edge of falling apart."@en
  • "In the summer of 1936, in rural Sussex, Kitty Allen answers an advert looking for 'a good plain cook'. Her employer is an American called Ellen Steinberg who believes in calling the staff by their first names and sunbathing in the nude."@en
  • "It's summer 1936, and the world is on the cusp of change, but there's little sign of this in rural Sussex. So when Kitty Allen answers an advert looking for 'a good plain cook', she has no idea what she's in for. For starters, her employer is an American called Ellen Steinberg who believes in having the staff call her by her first name and sunbathing in the nude. Then there's Ellen's eleven-year-old daughter, Geenie, a bright, unhappy little thing, and Mrs Steinberg's gentleman friend, Mr Crane, who's said to be a poet - even though he doesn't have a beard and doesn't actually write much poetr."@en
  • "Sussex, Sommer 1936. 'Köchin für Künstlerhaushalt gesucht - Aufgeschlossenheit erforderlich', stand in der Annonce. Obwohl Kitty gerade mal Hausmannskost zubereiten kann, bekommt sie die Stelle bei der exzentrischen Ellen Steinberg, die erst kürzlich ins idyllische Willow Cottage gezogen ist. Deren Freizügigkeit ist für die schüchterne Kitty so schockierend wie reizvoll: nachmittägliche Geräusche aus dem Schlafzimmer, nacktes Sonnenbaden im hohen Gras, ein junger Liebhaber, der im Gartenhäuschen über seinem grossen Roman brütet, und sich bald vor allem für die attraktive Köchin interessiert. Und die beiden Töchter aus früheren Beziehungen, die mehr von dem sich anbahnenden Gefühlschaos mitbekommen, als allen Beteiligten lieb sein kann. In der Hitze eines Sommers scheint nicht nur Ellens Traum vom bürgerlichen Familienleben zu verdunsten, sondern auch Kittys Traum von der alles überwindenden Liebe. Nur der Gärtner hat schon immer gewusst, dass das alles nicht gut gehen kann. Bethan Roberts, geboren 1973 in Oxford und aufgewachsen in Abingdon, unterrichtet Creative Writing an der Chichester University, an der Open University und an der Goldsmiths University of London. Für ihr Debüt "Stille Wasser" (Kunstmann 2008) wurde sie mit dem Jerwood/Arvon-Young-Writers'-Preis ausgezeichnet. Sie lebt in Brighton."
  • "It's summer 1936 in rural Sussex, a local girl Kitty Allen answers an advert looking for 'a good plain cook', she has no idea what she's in for. Her employer is an American who believes in sunbathing in the nude. Kitty is in no place to criticise - after all she claimed to be a good cook, despite hardly knowing how to boil an egg."

genre

http://schema.org/genre

  • "Erzählende Literatur: Gegenwartsliteratur ab 1945"
  • "Large type books"
  • "Fiction"
  • "Fiction"@en
  • "Audiobooks"@en
  • "Electronic books"@en
  • "General fiction"@en
  • "Belletristische Darstellung"
  • "Electronic resource"@en
  • "History"
  • "History"@en

name

http://schema.org/name

  • "The good plain cook"@en
  • "The good plain cook"
  • "Köchin für einen Sommer"
  • "Köchin für einen Sommer Roman"
  • "Köchin für einen Sommer : Roman"
  • "The Good Plain Cook"@en

workExample