What’s a thirtysomething, single, small-town temp to do to escape her dreadful life and her dysfunctional family? Our heroine, Zara, grabs a rucksack, jumps on a train going to a slightly bigger town, and falls into the arms of an intriguing young scientist called Alan. He could well be the solution to her problems — just so long as Zara’s cousin Julia’s love troubles don’t get in the way.

The adventure spirit thus unleashed, Zara develops a knack for attracting the most fascinating people, among them a coterie of queer and transsexual activists on a crusade against genetically modified foodstuffs. Not such an eccentric rallying point, as it turns out when the naughty goings-on at the lab where Alan works are uncovered. These ultimately lead to the creation of the Doomsday Globe, a pretty little knickknack that contains deadly bacteria in place of a snowstorm.

Up until this wonderful stage of her life, Zara has never had so much control over so much chaos. Life has never been so sweet as Zara and Alan fall helplessly in love. But don’t get out the sick-buckets yet: Zara’s suicidal mother doesn’t want to miss out on the fun, and Cousin Julia turns up on the doorstep pregnant and in denial. And it’s all Zara’s fault. Well, actually it isn’t, but she’s just too darned kind and competent for everybody’s good.

This is an eternal saga of human bondage made possible almost entirely by wireless technology...

About the author

Readers’ reviews:

“This book will definitely leave you feeling brighter than it found you. Ideal for a light holiday read with hidden depths. I would also recommend it for reading on long journeys, except that you will have to lift your head out of it from time to time to avoid missing your stop. When I read it I nearly missed an important appointment because I was so engrossed by adventures of the transvestite tractor driver and the apparent popularity of lasagne.” — Susan M. Phillips, Spiralthreads Reviews

“[T]he writing is very well-observed. And for all dithery fun to be had in this book, there is also a poignant sense of essentially lonely people trying to create better lives for themselves.” — Roseanne Rabinowitz, LauraHird.com

“Adorably English, dark twist on a chick novel. Sarah Crabtree takes the chick novel formula and stands it on its head. Hilarious only in the way Douglas Adams could be — if he were a ditzy, scatterbrained Englishwoman. Can’t stop smiling.” — Vocabuvore, Goodreads

“The book is engaging and provides a reasonable wrap up for the many plot threads, large and small. It has a large cast, but even those we meet only briefly are written clearly enough to get a sense of them and their place in the story.” — Astraplain, Goodreads

trade paperback 5.25" X 8.25" 264 pp. list price $19 ISBN-13: 978-0-9728321-6-8 ISBN-10: 0-9728321-6-5