Author Has A Lizard in Her Luggage
A Lizard in My Luggage describes a PR's life in Mayfair and Mallorca
Anna Nicholas's travel book, A Lizard in My Luggage, tells how she bought a ruined farmhouse in rural Mallorca, but carried on working in the Ab-Fab world of London PR
Anna Nicholas is a London PR and occasional journalist and broadcaster who works in the world of travel and fashion. It's a glitzy and funny world, and in her first book, A Lizard in My Luggage, it seems as if she's perfectly at home in the Absolutely Fabulous setting. Indeed, one of the quotes on the back of the book comes from Lynne Franks, who is often said to be the real-life figure behind the Jennifer Saunders creation of Edina Monsoon in the hit TV comedy, Absolutely Fabulous.
The other side of Anna Nicholas's life is shown by the second quote on the book jacket, which comes from the British author and adventurer Colonel John Blashford-Snell. 'Hugely entertaining,' says 'Blashers' of the book, and who am I to argue with one of the world's greatest explorers. Anna Nicholas's two worlds overlapped when she helped Blashford-Snell organise an expedition to take a piano to a native tribe deep in the Guyana jungle.
The two worlds described in A Lizard in My Luggage positively collided when Nicholas bought a run-down farmhouse in a remote part of Mallorca, in the Spanish Balearic Islands. It was an impulsive purchase, not to say a reckless one, as the author fully intended to carry on her London PR consultancy while commuting to and from Mallorca. Some of the funniest scenes are when she's describing the mobile phone calls she receives from her neurotic London clients, who are blissfully unaware (she hopes) that she is not in her office but is sitting in the sunshine on a Mallorcan hilltop.
There is already a huge supply of 'place in the sun' books, where someone buys a ruin/farm/vineyard in Tuscany/Provence/Spain, and describes the problems and the culture clashes. There's even a best-selling series about Mallorca already, by Peter Kerr. But Anna Nicholas brings a fresh eye to the genre, as there can't be more of a culture clash than the world of traditional Mallorcan feasts and religious celebrations, which Nicholas captures well, and the crazy London Ab-Fab world that she's used to, which she doesn't take too seriously.
By the end of A Lizard in My Luggage Anna Nicholas is starting to appreciate more the tranquil side of Mallorcan life, and you root for her as she makes her arduous commuting work.
A Lizard in My Luggage by Anna Nicholas is published in the UK by Summersdale at £7.99
