the undomestic goddess by sophie kinsella (2005)

I think housework is the reason most women go to the office.
- Heloise Cruse


This is how a modern fairytale sounds:

Once upon a time, in a far away kingdom called London, there lived a 29-year old lawyer who specialized in banking law, had a photographic memory, wore only black suits, worked 24x7, is not capable beyond making coffee and restructuring GBP30 million finance agreements, and whose sole heart’s desire was to become a partner in Carter Spink, one of London’s biggest law firms. Her name was Samantha Sweeting.

Because there are evil forces at work, just when she was about to be handed her prize, she was kicked out of Carter Spink and was banished to a godforsaken suburb to become a (gasp) housekeeper.

Since there is a princess, so there must be a prince and in this case, he was a gardener, but certainly not an ordinary one since he went to a university and did natural sciences. It was this prince who provided Samantha with a fairygodmother, who was actually the prince’s own mother. This fairygodmother briefed Samantha with the rudimentary techniques in cooking, cleaning, washing, and ironing and as a result thereof, Samantha’s employers were more than happy with their lawyer (of course they didn’t know she was one).

Alas, the path of true love never runs smooth and Samantha was vindicated and called back to Carter Spink where she was offered full equity partnership. There was also the matter of the Harvard-educated corporate partner in Carter Spink who might possibly be the true prince charming.

Samantha now has to resolve the issue between the law or cleaning loos – should she accept Carter Spink’s offer or go back to her 2-month life as an (un)domestic goddess? Is the high-powered like-minded attorney in Carter Spink only a toad or will he turn into a prince after true love's kiss? Was the 2-month sojourn with the gardener the real thing or only a holiday fling?

And here is I believe the seven hundred billion dollar question behind the modern fairytale: in taking either option, does “happily ever after” really follow?