The Two Lives of Miss Charlotte Merryweather
Alexandra Potter, . . Plume, $15 (390pp) ISBN 978-0-452-29588-9
In the 10 years since she arrived in London as a know-nothing college graduate with caterpillar eyebrows and her hair in a scrunchie, American Charlotte Merryweather has transformed herself into the stylish proprietress of the city's poshest public relations firm. Charlotte (along with her faithful assistant, Beatrice) is in pursuit of a hot new client and a home for herself and her boyfriend, when a sighting on the morning commute derails her: a curly-haired young woman in a beat-up orange VW Beetle who resembles the Charlotte of 10 years earlier. On a whim, Charlotte follows her home and discovers that, through some sort of inexplicable time-bending phenomenon, the girl is in fact Charlotte's younger self, called Lottie. Buddying up with her doppelgänger, Charlotte finds paradoxes taking a backseat to life lessons; thinking she's got a decade of hard-won wisdom to teach Lottie, Charlotte is surprised to find herself learning from her past persona about love, passion, and trusting herself. Though the plot mechanics grind noisily, Potter (
Reviewed on: 11/23/2009
Genre: Fiction
Open Ebook - 400 pages - 978-1-101-22290-4