(The perfect beach read and armchair travelogue--a wry, engaging, stylish novel of three women's escape into carefree London.

London Holiday opens in Mrs. Smith-Porter's cozy, prestigious London bed-and-breakfast, where the hotelier curiously awaits her three new American guests...

Best friends since long-ago childhood days, Lesley, a St. Louis society matron and do-gooder, Julia, a successful but lonely Manhattan interior designer, and Margo, a newly-divorced Chicago teacher with a teenage daughter, are all harboring unfulfilled dreams and desperate for a change from their ordinary lives. When a shocking act of violence reminds them how fragile life really is, the three friends decide it's time for a reunion and embark on a long-awaited trip to London.

Safe in the confines of Mrs. Smith-Porter's bed-and-breakfast, the women enter a whirlwind of tea in the garden, antique markets, picture-perfect countryside and ...romance. For each of them, the London holiday holds many surprises and "the epiphanies [they] experience pour over readers with the light, dry sparkle of good champagne" (Publishers Weekly).

**Penguin Readers Guide Bound into Every Book

In London Holiday, three middle-aged American women take a trip to London that changes their lives. Les, Julia, and Margo grew up together in a small Missouri town and have remained friends ever since childhood. They're all getting older and becoming increasingly dissatisfied with their lives. Les is a restless St. Louis society woman; Julia's a driven, single, interior designer; and Margo is a recently divorced schoolteacher. Les decides they all need to escape their lives for a while and go on an adventure together. It works wonders. On their first day in London, Julia takes off on her own and returns very late with a delightful story to tell: "I was picked up by a strange man in a south London slum who took me to a deserted barn in the country, and then a dying baronet thought I was the Duchess of Windsor." In other words, she went shopping for antiques and met a cute guy who might possibly be royalty. This book seems to be a fantasy specially designed for women of a certain age who particularly enjoy antiquing. The three friends stay in a beautifully decorated bed and breakfast run by a secretive, charming old woman named Mrs. Smith-Porter. Mrs. Smith-Porter has a knack for saying just the right thing to solve a problem then vanishing magically, which is a good thing because these women have plenty of problems. Les is stuck in a loveless marriage; Margo has just learned that her teenage daughter is pregnant and her former husband is gay; Julia is just plain lonely. England and Mrs. Smith-Porter improve these women's lives immeasurably. This is not a very profound book but it is rather fun, a good one to read at the beach. --Jill Marquis

Recommended to book clubs by 1 of 1 members.