“Barb Barrett leaves her loveless marriage - she refers to her now former husband as the 'ex-person' - and in the process manages to lose everything including her two children. Trying to put her life back together, she moves into a house once occupied by Vladimir Nabokov and discovers a manuscript that may or not be his. Thus begins a sweet tale of a quirky, charming and very funny woman finding her way, seeking happiness and fulfillment by some rather unconventional ways.”
— Ellen Burns, Books On The Common, Ridgefield, CT
Description
Now in paperback, the stunning debut about a woman rediscovering herself after a divorce explores the heartbreaking and deeply funny aspects of the mess called love. With glowing reviews from the Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, NPR’s All Things Considered, and more.
When Barb Barrett walks out on her loveless marriage, she doesn’t realize she will lose everything: her home, her financial security, even her beloved children. Approaching forty with her life in shambles and no family or friends to turn to, Barb must now discover what it means to rely on herself in a stark new emotional landscape.
With only a questionable business plan in hand, Barb is determined to reinvent herself. She moves into a house once occupied by the literary genius Vladimir Nabokov, author of the notorious Lolita. She discovers what could be Nabokov’s last unpublished manuscript and from there begins a personal journey that is deliciously romantic, darkly comic, and wise.
Written in elegant prose and illuminated by sharp humor and wit, Cleaning Nabokov’s House offers a new vision of modern love and a reminder that it is never too late to find loyalty to our truest selves.
About the Author
Leslie Daniels has published short fiction and essays in Ploughshares, The Missouri Review, New Ohio Review, among others and has been nominated four times for the Pushcart Prize, for Best American Essays, and for the Best of the Associated Writing Programs. She is the former fiction editor of Green Mountains Review, and has worked in publishing for two decades. Her website is LeslieDaniels.com.
Praise For…
“Daniels is warmly funny and audacious in this shrewd and saucy mix of family drama, gender discord, sexual healing, and high literature; a raucous yet sensitive tale of one quirky woman’s struggle to overcome the lowest of low self-esteem to get motherhood and love right.” —Booklist
“Barb Barrett leaves her loveless marriage - she refers to her now former husband as the 'ex-person' - and in the process manages to lose everything including her two children. Trying to put her life back together, she moves into a house once occupied by Vladimir Nabokov and discovers a manuscript that may or not be his. Thus begins a sweet tale of a quirky, charming and very funny woman finding her way, seeking happiness and fulfillment by some rather unconventional ways.”
