The Undomestic Goddess

　　Workaholic attorney Samantha Sweeting has just done the unthinkable. She's made a mistake so huge, it'll wreck any chance of a partnership.

　　Going into utter meltdown, she walks out of her London office, gets on a train, and ends up in the middle of nowhere. Asking for directions at a big, beautiful house, she's mistaken for an interviewee and finds herself being offered a job as housekeeper. Her employers have no idea they've hired a lawyer-and Samantha has no idea how to work the oven. She can't sew on a button, bake a potato, or get the #@%# ironing board to open. How she takes a deep breath and begins to cope-and finds love-is a story as delicious as the bread she learns to bake.

But will her old life ever catch up with her? And if it does…will she want it back?

《家事女神》為都會小說天后蘇菲．金索拉繼《購物狂》系列後，襲捲各大暢銷書榜新作，全球百萬工作狂真心共鳴

★PageOne外文小說類排行第七名
★The New York Times八月份排行第七名
★英國《星期天泰晤士報》暢銷排行榜
★《紐約時報》暢銷書排行榜
★《出版家週刊》暢銷書排行榜

感謝穿著Prada的惡魔上司！

　　如果不是被炒了魷魚，怎能發現原來我想去哪裡、想做什麼、想成為什麼樣的人都可以。

　 　繼紐約時報暢銷書《購物狂》系列之後，蘇菲金索拉的最新力作。描述工作狂莎曼珊，如何在面臨職業生涯上最大的挫折之後，從倫敦頂尖的律師成為「法國藍帶 廚藝高手」，發現跟做家事比起來，擬合約根本就不算什麼。書中對媒體界的嘩眾取寵、對職場的虞爾我詐、對菁英教育和社會階級迷思的嘲諷，是最有趣的地方。 故事節奏高潮迭起，個性古靈精怪的女主角有著恰到好處的神經質，絕對是本讓人愛不釋手的都會女性小說。

　　29歲的莎曼珊任職於倫敦一家聲譽卓著的律師事務所，她是那種依靠壓力和腎上腺素才能保持旺盛生命力的工作狂。萬萬想不到的是，她犯了一個巨大的錯誤，讓她多年的努力付之流水，而且公司毫不顧及情面，將她掃地出門。

　　在震驚之中，莎曼珊搭上前往倫敦郊區的列車，恍恍惚惚地走進一幢豪宅的大門，等她甦醒之後，赫然發現自己竟被誤會為來報到的新管家。心灰意冷的莎曼珊為了遠離工作的陰影，也就順水推舟接下了這個意外的工作，開始了洗衣、烹調和打掃的管家生活。 　　但是對家務一竅不通的她，在這段時間裡鬧出了相當多的笑話。還好有驚無險，蓋格夫婦並沒有發現她的真實身份，同時莎曼珊與園丁南森之間也慢慢地滋生愛苗。

　　然而過往歲月卻不願輕意放了莎曼珊，一次意外的狀況下，她發現了前公司一個不可告人的秘密，發現自己當初是被惡意陷害，為了拯救自己的名聲，她變成了八卦媒體追逐的熱門人物。她必須面對一切做出選擇，也讓她平靜的生活掀起波瀾。

作者簡介

蘇菲．金索拉（Sophie Kinsella）

　 　蘇菲原為財經記者，她卻鍾情於寫作。因《購物狂》系列的高潮情節及獨特的幽默感，造成一股時尚話題，如今全球總銷售逾2,000,000冊，並擁有超過 22國語言的翻譯本。在英美，蘇菲被奉為「女性都會小說」的代表人物，《購物狂》系列幾乎是女性讀者及作家最鍾愛的都會小說。

　　夾帶超高人氣，《管家莎曼珊》一出版，立刻登上英國《星期天泰晤士報》暢銷排行榜及美國《紐約時報》及《出版家週刊》等暢銷書排行榜。

　 　為了揣摩《管家莎曼珊》裡那位笨手笨腳的莎曼珊，蘇菲親自去學習做家事。一位老朋友教她做麵包；在她嫁給一位懂得燙衣服的男人後，這是她第一次研究怎麼 使用燙衣板；她還買了一條超漂亮、跟廚房顏色最搭配的圍裙。出乎她的意料之外，她發現當一位「家事女神」還蠻好玩的！奇怪的是，她還沒學會該如何整理垃圾 袋，目前還在努力嘗試中。

．蘇菲的個人網站：www.randomhouse.com/bantamdell/kinsella/index.html
．City Chic部落格：blog.yam.com/fulloncity/

THE UNDOMESTIC GODDESS

Chapter One

Would you consider yourself stressed?
 
No. Im not stressed.
Im . . . busy. Plenty of people are busy. I have a high-powered job, my career is important to me, and I enjoy it.
OK. So sometimes I do feel a bit tense. But Im a lawyer in the City, for Gods sake. What do you expect?
My handwriting is pressing so hard into the page, Ive torn the paper. Dammit. Never mind. Lets move on to the next question.

On average, how many hours do you spend in the office every day?

14
12
8

It depends.

Do you exercise regularly?

I regularly go swimming

I occasionally go swim

I am intending to begin a regular regime of swimming. When I have time. Works been busy lately, its a blip.

Do you drink 8 glasses of water a day?

Yes

Someti

No.

I put down my pen and clear my throat. Across the room, Maya looks up from where shes rearranging all her little pots of wax and nail varnish. Maya is my spa beauty therapist for the day and is in her forties, Id say. Her long dark hair is in a plait with one white streak woven through it, and she has a tiny silver stud in her nose.

＂Everything all right with the questionnaire?＂ she murmurs.

＂I did mention that Im in a bit of a hurry,＂ I say politely. ＂Are all these questions absolutely necessary?＂

＂At the Green Tree Center we like to have as much information as possible to assess your beauty and health needs,＂ she replies in soothing yet implacable tones.

I glance at my watch. Nine forty-five.

I dont have time for this. I really do not have the time. But its my birthday treat and I promised my best friend, Freya.
To be more accurate, its last years birthday treat. Freya gave me the gift voucher for an ＂Ultimate De-stress Experience＂ just over a year ago. Shes my oldest school friend and is always on at me for working too hard. In the card that came with the voucher she wrote Make Some Time For
Yourself, Samantha!!!

Which I did fully intend to do. But we had the Zincon Petrochemical Group restructuring and the Zeus Minerals merger . . . and somehow a year went by without my finding a spare moment. Im a lawyer with Carter Spink. I work in the corporate department on the finance side, and just at the moment, things are pretty hectic with some big deals on. Its a blip. Itll get better. I just have to get through the next couple of weeks.
Anyway, then Freya sent me this years birthday card-and I suddenly realized the voucher was about to expire. So here I am, on my twenty-ninth birthday. Sitting on a couch in a white toweling robe and surreal paper knickers.With a halfday window. Max.

Do you smoke?

No.

Do you drink alcohol?

Yes. The odd glass of wine.

Do you eat regular home-cooked meals?

What does that have to do with anything? What makes ＂home-cooked＂ meals superior?

I eat a nutritious, varied diet, I write at last. Which is absolutely true.

Anyway, everyone knows the Chinese live longer than we do-so what could be more healthy than to eat their food? And pizza is Mediterranean. Its probably more healthy than a home-cooked meal.

Do you feel your life is balanced?

Yes.

N

Yes.

＂Im done,＂ I announce, and hand the pages back to Maya, who starts reading through my answers. Her finger is traveling down the paper at a snails pace. Like weve got all the time in the world.

Which she may well have. But I seriously have to be back in the office by one.

Maya looks up, a thoughtful expression on her face. ＂Youre obviously quite a stressed-out woman.＂

What? Where does she get that from? I specifically put on the form, I am not stressed-out.

＂No, Im not.＂ I hope Mayas taking in my relaxed, see-how-unstressed-I-am smile. She looks unconvinced.

＂Your job is obviously very pressured.＂

＂I thrive under pressure,＂ I explain. Which is true. Ive known that about myself ever since . . .