âThe multi award-winning Charlotte Mendelson is famous for whipping up the hottest, messiest family dramas a writer of literary fiction can . . . This is late Shakespeare meets Modern Family and itâs irresistibleâ â The Times
In a tiny flat in West London, sixteen-year-old Marina lives with her emotionally delicate mother and three ancient Hungarian relatives. Imprisoned by her familyâs crushing expectations and their traditions, she knows she must escape.
At Combe Abbey, a traditional English private boarding school in the Dorset countryside, Marina realizes sheâs made a terrible mistake. Here, among the boathouses, chapel services and unspoken social hierarchy, she is the awkward half-foreign girl who doesnât know how to fit in, flirt, or even exist.
Meanwhile, her mother has her own painful secrets to deal with â especially the surprising return of the very last man sheâd expect to see. And Marinaâs disastrous spiral at Combe Abbey is going unnoticed . . .
âA deliciously funny tale of dysfunctional families. . . Reading Mendelsonâs easy, assured prose is like sinking into something soft and velvetyâ â Telegraph
âI read and adored Almost English . . . and now I will read everything sheâs ever written. Charlotte Mendelson is a fiendishly gifted writerâ â Marian Keyes