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Abbott, Bonnie Thomas Radical Prunings, A Novel of Officious Advice from the Contessa of Compost
Clerisy Press, Emmis Books 2005 1578602033 / 9781578602032 First Edition Softcover Very Good+
Ex-library book, but still in great condition - sturdy laminated cover and usual ex-lib type of markings. Pages clean and intact, overall wear is very light. ; 12mo 7" - 7½" tall; 240 pages; "If "Miss Manners" were to write a gardening column, "Radical Prunings" would be its title, and "Mertensia Corydalis" her horticultural nom de plume. Abbott's hilarious debut novel brilliantly captures the tongue-in-cheek chiding so familiar to readers of advice columns in this ersatz gardening how-to. Wielding a literary trowel honed to a sharp-edged point, Abbott's fictional green-thumb advisor eviscerates correspondents seeking her expertise with a rapier-like wit as she chastises them for such botanical boo-boos as planting sunflowers in a row, hostas in sunshine, and anything orange. Ably assisted by her Vietnamese garden boy, Tran, and not-so-ably by the administratively challenged Miss Vong, Mertensia issues a pithy Q&A newsletter, exposing gardening gaffes, and her own topsy-turvy life, season by season. Abbott's readers must remind themselves that this is a work of fiction and that there is no "Mertensia Corydalis" in real life. Pity, for amid her spot-on satire of advice columnists who take themselves too seriously, Abbott, or Mertensia, offers some bona fide gardening information." (285osl, 0211)
Price:
3.75 USD
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