K. Rowling had any influence on Bloomsbury’s decision to re-publish Paul Gallico’s ‘Mrs Harris’ series. In Mrs Harris MP, the honest as-ever old char impresses her employer with her no-nonsense political views to such an extent that he - an MP, no less - encourages her to become a voice for the people of Battersea and stand for election herself. Russia in Fiction has no further reason to trouble ourselves with any other of the Mrs Harris novels, but we are not unhappy that we read this one. Overall, the story is still funny, but just doesn't have the same sparkle as the previous installments.

The years since first print and change of way of life in UK and Russia have not dimmed the story at all. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. Gallico's plot feels contrived, and the caricatures of the Soviet and British diplomats who intercede fall somewhat flat. See the Golden Carriage in the Kremlin, the mummy of the great god Lenin and the relics of the Czar.That will while away an hour or so pleasantly enough, taking you to the attitudes and assumptions of England in the 1970s, and to a view of Moscow and the Soviet Union through that particular lens. Meanwhile, a series of bureaucratic misunderstandings in the vast Soviet machine lead to Mrs Harris and Violet coming to the attention of the KGB.

And so Ada Harris and her friend Mrs Butterworth fly east, with the former intent on helping her employer, lovelorn Mr Lockwood. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.Harris, the two London ladies are incorrectly taken for spies and get into some very compromising situations. Gallico’s story is straightforward and well-constructed, and it moves along at a fair old pace to its conclusion within 200 pages. In 1941 he made his name with The Snow Goose, a classic story of Dunkirk which became a worldwide bestseller.

Author Paul Gallico attacked the Soviet government with a vengeance – I have to wonder about his own KGB dossier. They end up embroiled in international relations, attempt to matchmake and see a whole different world. My daughter and I loved the film and I usually enjoy the original book version of the story even more. I guess the fact that the author is actually American explains the language in these books, which are peppered with far more bloodys than the characters they depict would likely have used. If you liked the others, you’ll certainly like this – if you can face reading about Russian collusion in the current environment (it did feel oddly topical).Mrs Harris wins a trip to Moscow and invites her friend to accompany her which she does reluctantly.

She's not dislikeable, but she is there to represent the author's idea of a type, not to be a fully fleshed out individual. I haven't read the two installments that follow, but from what I gather they were also very good, most likely stronger than this one. J. Marsh, Judith O'Reilly, Kelly Clayton, Kim Nash, Leah Mercer, Liz Fenwick, Louise Jensen, Louise Mumford, Malcolm Hollingdrake, Marcia Woolf, Mark Stay, Marcie Steele, Natasha Bache, Nick Jackson, Nick Quantrill, Nicky Black, Patricia Gibney, Rachel Sargeant, Rob Parker, Rob Scragg, S.Mrs Harris Goes To Moscow is the fourth and final in Gallico’s occasional series of books about the adventures of Mrs Ada Harris, a widowed London char woman. I realize this was written when the COLD WAR was still going on but the rants just felt so stereotypical. A wonderful Paul Gallico novella is ‘The Lonely’ about a US pilot stationed in the UK during WW2 and surprisingly modern in its description of the relationships between the sexes and the consequences you have to face for the decisions you make. When your choice of fiction is influenced by where it is set, then you can end up reading novels that you would not otherwise have given a second glance to.