Nadia and Vera are sisters who've had a falling out and haven't been on speaking terms since their mother's death but when their father announces that he is going to re-marry a woman he describes as a Boticelli Venus rising from the waves, with golden hair and superior breasts, the sisters join forces to help keep their father from this woman's clutches.
The 84-year-old Nikolai is a Ukrainian immigrant who's settled in London after WWII. He and his wife raised their two daughters who grew up with very different views on life; Vera is the conservative and Nadia the liberal. After, his wife's death he is lonely and easy prey for Valentina. A woman who is still married but willing to do whatever it takes to get a visa to England.
Nikolai thinks he can help her and her son get out from the Ukraine and into the good life to be had in the West. Plus, he's hoping for a bit of companionship. What he didn't account for is that the 36-year-old Valentina demands cars, new appliances and a lot more of the good life. She's not content with the meager items Nikolai can provide and berates him for the “Crap Car” she has to drive and many other faults.
The sisters decide to find ways to annul the marriage and begin by investigating. As they search through the house at various times the sisters will also start to piece together their parent's lives. What happened to them during WWII and how they came to be in England. Nadia is the one who seems to invest more time in the investigations and also comes away with a lot of questions about her heritage.
While Valentina is not a sympathetic character, she can be abusive and downright mean, I think the daughters also showed a bit of selfishness. They didn't want Valentina in their father's life but they also didn't seem to want him in theirs. They had their children, work, etc. to keep them busy and I think they didn't understand the needs of their elderly father.
This book was an odd mix for me. While I found some parts quite comedic, there were certainly various times where I would grimace at some of the instances of abuse towards the father and I found that made for a bit of a jarring reading experience.
Added 12/07