In a book that presents a range of improbable juxtapositions between two nations and two cultures, brightly narrated and pulled together by Philip Oltermann – a youngish German who can’t quite decide whether he’s an Anglophobe (the food) or an Anglophile (the jokes, the tolerance, and weirdly, the warm beer) – one item shines out. That particular treat is a gift to the reader, and one for which Oltermann deserves the gratitude of anyone who relishes end-of-the-pier-style comedy at its finest.

Literary Review

Apr 2012

Categories

Miranda Seymour

A Songbird in Knightsbridge

What the Valet Did

Hostess with the Mostest

The Black Underwear was a Practical Choice

Corners of Foreign Fields

Palazzo Non Finito

The Marriage Plot

Crowning Glories

How Beautiful They Stand

The Real Donna Inez

Get with the Program

Passion For Cultivation

The Untouchables

Clasping Cupid

Sandwich Scandal

Herbal History

Family Affairs

Tales of the Workhouse

Seeds of Thought

Plucking Roses

Coming Into Bloom

Building A Life

Don’t Mention The War

Out of the Caskets

These Enchanted Woods