Gallico's plot feels contrived, and the caricatures of the Soviet and British diplomats who intercede fall somewhat flat. Even Prince Philip is written in to play a small part in events (and now it's hard not to think of his recent death).

When I first discovered Mrs. Harris in Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris, I was throughly charmed as she was a multi-dimensional character in a delightful book enriched with wonderful drawings. Mrs. Harris is one of those characters you just don't forget, and despite the book coming out many decades ago, it transcends the years. 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. I'm sure I will get to them eventually. Paul William Gallico was born in New York City, on 26th July, 1897. His father was an Italian, and his mother came from Austria; they emigrated to New York in 1895. He was a first-class fencer, and a keen deep-sea fisherman. He was married four times, and had several children.There are only four Mrs Harris books, but I’ve been gradually working my way through the series since 2012. Mrs Harris Goes to Moscow– known as Mrs ‘Arris Goes to Moscow in the US – is the final one of these, published in 1974, an impressive sixteen years after the first in the series. There is a charming account of the awe felt by Mrs Harris when she looks out of her fictional central Moscow hotel window (presumably what was then the National and is now the Marriott) … Mrs Harris is a London char lady whose exploits started (in Flowers for Mrs Harris, or Mrs ‘Arris Goes to Paris, or indeed Mrs Harris Goes to Paris) with saving up money to buy a Dior dress in France. After that, she went to America and became an MP (in separate books, naturally). And, finally, she’s off to Moscow to reunite one of her employers with his long-lost Russian love. That’s when things start to get ridiculous.

every sign in a wholly unintelligible foreign alphabet, the Cyrillic lettering. Different sounds, different smells, a kind of combination of cheap soap and disinfectant and the clothes basket containing last week’s wash, different tempo, rude and hard looking officials, lumpy sheep-like ill-clad crowds mrs harris goes to moscow, p.69 Mrs. Butterfield has serious reservations about the trip and once she finds out about the letter her anxiety grows. She's right to worry, as unbeknownst to Mrs. Harris, the two London ladies are incorrectly taken for spies and get into some very compromising situations. All sorts of complications eventually arise, especially once they realize their status and Liz becomes involved, much to her own peril. Plot-wise, Keystone cop KGB officers mistake a char lady as Lady Char, an aristocrat and therefore clearly a spy. Different Soviet organisations argue over who has authority in relation to foreign visitors. The British Foreign Office, helped by a sympathetic Russian diplomat, finally get their act together, and all ends in the way that such easy-reading should.Nonsense, for sure. Mrs Harris Goes To Moscow is replete with coincidences and caricatures. But of course caricatures are grist to the Russia-in-fiction mill. We are all about how Russia is perceived. Though his name was well-known in the United States, he was an unknown in the rest of the world. In 1941, the Snow Goose changed all that, and he became, if not a best-selling author by today's standards, a writer who was always in demand. Apart from a short spell as a war correspondent between 1943 and 1946, he was a full-time freelance writer for the rest of his life. He has lived all over the place, including England, Mexico, Lichtenstein and Monaco, and he lived in Antibes for the last years of his life. Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2021-12-09 06:07:13 Bookplateleaf 0008 Boxid IA40304008 Camera USB PTP Class Camera Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier