Cleaning Nabokov’s House

Reviews

“Cleaning Nabokov’s House is original and compelling, the sort of book that keeps a reader on her toes—wildly funny one minute and profoundly sober the next. The protagonist is delightful, the plot a marvelous weave of sex, food, money, and motherhood. Every page a joy.”

“The pleasures of the novel unfold in a series of tantalizing, laugh-out-loud twists. The portrayals are as heartrending as the writing is dead-on funny, and the storytelling is both quirky and captivating. I was swept along like a trout in a clear stream. Bravo.”

“In spite of its odd title, this is a wonderfully original, charming, and funny novel about what to do when your world has turned upside down, and how to get through a long cold rural winter by opening a house of ill repute.”

“In Barbara, Leslie Daniels has created a character to root for.”

 “Daniels accesses some new territory while still giving readers what they want when they want in a light, semi-literary romantic comedy…Authentic, often devastating depictions of a mother missing her children…raise this book above the rest.”

“Vladimir Nabokov, a small town’s sex trade, and a mother’s fight to win back her children don’t often have much to do with one another. But in Cleaning Nabokov’s House they do—and brilliantly so. There is not a false note or flat phrase anywhere in this surprising, moving, sexy, and very, very funny book. Leslie Daniels has written one of those rare tales that makes you wish you could meet all of the characters for tea—and makes you regret that they exist only in the author’s imagination. But what an extraordinary imagination it is.”

“Literature and Letters meet the oldest profession at the hand of one of the most hysterical narrators to come along in ages. Cleaning Nabokov's House is an epic comedy told in an epic new voice.”

“Daniels is warmly funny and audacious in this shrewd and saucy mix of family drama, gender discord, sexual healing, and high literature; a raucous yet sensitive tale of one quirky woman’s struggle to overcome the lowest of low self-esteem to get motherhood and love right.”

“Daniels writes her story with refreshingly eccentric twists, holding readers’ interest…Her characters live and breathe, and the humor, energy, wit, and edgy look at small-town mores make this a delightful read. It will appeal to fiction readers, especially women.”

“Daniels’ writing is slick and her characters richly detailed, and even when it dips into sheer goofiness, it's still a pleasure to read.”

“Barb is fine company—blunt, mordantly funny, with a winning combination of ruthlessness and warmth.”

“A spare, humorous, and heart-wrenching story.”

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