Man at the helm : a novel
(Book)

"Originally published in Great Britain by the Penguin Group, August 2014." -- Title page verso.

"Born into a posh family, nine-year-old Lizzie Vogel has lived a charmed life thus far, with a big sister who knows everything, a cute baby brother, and a full-time housekeeper who bakes jam tarts. But when, in 1970, her father abandons her mother and sends his ex-family off to the tiny village of Flatstone, life as Lizzie knows it comes to an abrupt end. The Vogels' new neighbors disapprove of divorcees and fatherless children, and Lizzie's theatrical mother provides constant grist for the gossip mill, letting the laundry pile up like Mount Sinai and spending her days drinking whiskey, popping pills, and writing plays about how sad she is. Before long the family is shunned by village society. Determined to fit in, and to save themselves from the infamous Crescent Homes for children, Lizzie and her sister decide to find themselves a new 'man at the helm.' As the two girls make their way down a list of candidates that includes a charming con artist, an idiotic vicar, and several married men, Lizzie confronts the downright craziness of grown-up love,learns important life lessons (never let a pony look out of an upstairs window), and discovers that sometimes a family needs to veer catastrophically off course in order to find true happiness." -- From dust jacket.