A Lizard in my Luggage by Anna Nicholas
Book Review of a New Life on the Spanish Island of Mallorca
Aug 10, 2008
If you thought that glamour and glitz didn’t mix with rural country living you should read this book. A Lizard in my Luggage is the first book about her new life in Mallorca. Nicholas has written a great account of how a high-powered PR Company owner (herself) left the heart of London, lured by the charm of a simple rustic life.
Having holidayed on the Island of Mallorca on the advice of her sisters’ au pair, who being Mallorcan said that it was the most beautiful place on earth, Nicholas found she returned home having impulsively bought a run-down farmhouse!
From London to Mallorca
Nicholas tells a highly entertaining tale of her ongoing commuting to London in high heels, while living in her builders' yard of a restoration project, trying to learn the language and train for the London Marathon.
With bare-feet and trainers becoming her more common form of footwear than high heels, the peace and simplicity of their new rustic living begins to pull her away from life in the fast lane. The trips to London become a chore rather than a challenge, and she even surprises herself at the change she now desires.
The Spanish mañana effect works for her and the hustle and bustle of flying to work becomes only when absolutely necessary. Big decisions need to be made when each trip to back to the UK becomes less inviting. Even the fear of flying wasn´t enough reason to stop her commuting but the newborn desire to stay in her new found refuge and its way of life is.
Commuting by Air
Nicholas proves in a big way that it is possible to live in one country and work in another, but will she continue to do so?
This is a lively and hugely entertaining tale, in which she walks us through her gruelling marathon training and then a half-marathon run in the scorching Spanish sun. She takes us through high finance dos, boring functions in London and regular chats with the wise toad who inhabits her back yard pool in Mallorca.
Altogether a thoroughly enjoyable and graphic account of her drastic change of lifestyle. Nicholas proves wholeheartedly that it’s a possible quest - living in London and working in the Canary Islands, if you want it badly enough. To those contemplating such a move it would be wise decision to read this book. But be warned, it might be a change of lifestyle that pulls you too from a life of stress into more simple living.
There is now a sequel to this great piece of writing, a great achievement and especially as she was afraid of flying - a great deal of courage.
Look out for Cat on a Hot Tiled Roof - Mayhem in Mayfair and Mallorca also by Anna Nicholas
A Lizard in my Luggage by Anna Nicholas is published by Summersdale Publishers Ltd with the ISBN no. 978-1840245653 in March 2007 priced at $11.50
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