Cleaning Nabakov's House

Leslie Daniels novel Cleaning Nabakov's House is a women's fiction novel with humor and a little romance.

Barb Barrett is newly divorced and has just lost custody of her two children. Her husband has managed to prove that Barb is not a fit parent and now she is allowed only one weekend visit each month. Although her ex-husband has moved on with his life, quickly moving in with his new social worker girlfriend, Barb feels stuck. She is living in a town where she has no friends and nothing to look forward to. Her job answering mail for the Daitch Dairy company does not demand much of her attention and without any money Barb has few options of what to do with her time and energy. As a further blow, Barb's ex-husband decides to move the children to a town two hours away.

Although I found the idea of Barb losing her children almost devastatingly sad, Daniels writes this novel with great humor. And despite this rough start, Barb doesn't give up. Over time Barb finds a few friends - the mailman Bill and his wife Marge. Marge becomes Barb's agent as she pursues publishing some writing she found in the house she now owns, which was once famed writer Nabakov's house. Barb also begins to look at the women around town, trying to find a business to start that would appeal to them. She soon opens a cathouse (a new term to me) and hires several young men to meet with the women who pay for services. Finally Barb is able to prove she has money to pay her mortgage and in her savings account and will be able to care for her children. And of course there is a little love interest for Barb herself.

Despite the fact that I didn't like Barb losing her children to her ex-husband, I did enjoy this novel. There were parts that made me nearly laugh out loud. I also liked the resolution Daniels provided and found this to be an entertaining read.