Resumo de The Undomestic Goddess

This is a classicGirl-meets-Boy story with a twist: Samantha Sweeting is a high-powered London lawyer,complete with BlackBerry, cell phone, Dictaphone and six-minute billing cycle, whoseobjective changes from becoming partner at Carter Spink, one of the mostreputed law firms, to cleaning bathrooms for the Geigers, an eccentric butlovable couple in a charming village in the Cotswolds. Just before being madepartner, Samantha notices a memo on her desk for registering a loan, a routineprocedure whose deadline she missed and that will now cost her company fiftymillion pounds. Samantha panics, runs out of the office, and boards the firsttrain out of London. When it stops in Lower Ebury, Samantha is quite tipsy from the consolation drinksshe had on the train and asks at the first house she comes across for a glassof water. The friendly owner who mistakes her for a domestic help applicant,offers her a headache pill that does not mix too well with the alcohol, and inthe following stupor during which Samantha boasts to be a cordon bleu chef, sheagrees to become the Geigers? housekeeper. Samantha?s first dayis a disaster as all her personal housecleaning, ironing and cooking was doneby someone else. She can just keep her cover by ordering lunch fromprofessional caterers and giving the Geigers? clothes to a laundry service. Thesecond day is not much better but Samantha learns at least to make tea andtoast and gets an offer from Nathanial, the gardener, to learn cooking from hismother. She gladly agrees and on her first weekend off ? the first weekend offin seven years, since she joined the law firm ? she learns from Nathanial?sdynamic mother Iris how to make roast chicken and to bake bread. Samanthaenjoys herself and the cooking weekends become a routine. So does spending moretime with Nathanial who also owns the local pub and whose dream it is to havehis own nursery. Soon, Samantha findsherself falling in love with Nathaniel. There is only one problem ? he does notlike lawyers ever since they almost tricked him out of property after hisfather?s death. But Samantha is not ready to reveal her secret just yet,especially after she finds out that Carter Spink has erased all memory of heron their website and other communication. So with nowhere to go, she hangs on alittle longer, actually enjoying herself, the relaxed village lifestyle and herblossoming romance with Nathaniel. One fine day while surfing the internet, shenotices a family connection between one of the partners at Carter Spink, thecompany whose loan she did not register and the bank that was supposed to coverit. Digging further, she discovers a set-up by the parties involved and decidesto go to London for a couple of days to clear her name. Her plan to snooparound the partner?s desk to gather further evidence fails, and insteadSamantha embarrasses herself in front of the whole company by accusing thepartner at his retirement party. So humiliated, she has only one way out ? toconfide in stern Ketterman, head of the corporate department. To her uttersurprise, he believes her, investigates further while Samantha returns to theGeigers, and asks her for a final confrontation with the former partner duringwhich her name is cleared and she is asked to return to Carter Spink as apartner. Just weeks ago, Samantha would have jumped at the opportunity but nowit just means more long hours, no weekends or vacation, in short, no quality oflife to her, and she turns it down. She returns to the Geigers with the intentionto come clean soon but events precede her decision. She has become a celebrityby choosing to be a housekeeper over partnership in a reputed law firm, a factthat the press has gotten wind of. The first reporters arrive in Lower Ebury, hounding Samantha for exclusive interviews. EvenCarter Spink sends representatives who finally sway Samantha to accept the offer.With her cover blown, she finally comes clean and tells the Geigers andNathanial the truth. The Geigers are excited about their Cambridge-educated housekeeperand even Nathanial is willing to try a weekend relationship. However, as itbecomes clear that there will be no weekends for Samantha in months with hernew responsibility as partner, he calls the relationship off and heads for thecountryside. Samantha leaves for London but decides on the train that romance is moreimportant than career and quits one final time. In a dramatic show-down, thelovers meet halfway between Lower Ebury andLondon patch up.

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