“I realized that I could stay in this town when I caught a blue enamel saucepan from the lake. The saucepan led me to a house, a house to a book, a book to a lawyer, a lawyer to a meeting house, a meeting house to science, and from science I went out into the world,” Barbara, the heroine of the novel by Leslie Daniels, begins her story. the reader meets at a critical moment in her biography. Finding herself in a provincial town, the former New Yorker lost not only her friends and her job, but also her children, who were taken from her in court by a “character from the past” - her ex-husband. However, the mentioned saucepan led her to the house where, according to rumors, Vladimir Nabokov once lived! Barbara immediately liked the “impressive barn,” and she decided to buy and furnish it at all costs. Cleaning Nabokov's house turned out to be an amazing find that changed not only the future fate of Barbara, but also the life of the entire town. This incredible story is the debut novel by American Leslie Daniels, just published in the USA and has already won the sympathy of its first readers with its bright originality and wit. “Cleaning Nabokov's House” is one of those books that does not let the reader go for a minute: you are rolling with laughter , then you become imbued with the seriousness of the moment. The heroine is charming, the plot miraculously combines sex, food, money and motherly love. Every page is a gift! (Karen Joy Fowler, “The Jane Austen Book Club”) (back cover) Hilariously funny plot twists, touching characters combined with an incredibly funny author's intonation, an entertaining and completely unpredictable story... Bravo, Leslie Daniels! Janet Fitch (“White Oleander”) “Cleaning Nabokov's House” is one of those books that does not let the reader go for a minute: you are either rolling with laughter, or imbued with the seriousness of the moment. The heroine is charming, the plot miraculously combines sex, food, money and motherly love. Every page is a gift! Karen Joy Fowler (“The Jane Austen Book Club”) Not a single false note, not a single flat phrase in this amazing, touching, romantic and very, very funny book! Leslie Daniels has managed to create one of those rare stories that make you wish you could meet the characters over a cup of tea - wish they were all just a figment of the author's imagination. But what imagination! Jeffrey Kluger (“Apollo 13”)... This is truly original, charming, complete a humorous novel about what to do if your world is suddenly turned upside down. Alison Lurie (“Foreign Relations”) From the pages of this book a fresh voice sounds like no one else. Read and discover a brave new world. Sina Yeter Nislund (“Captain Ahab’s Wife”) Leslie Daniels’s intonation... is so captivating that at first you may not notice the tenderness, pain and stoic wisdom sounding in the depths... This is a comedy of small tragedies, news from the front lines in the eternal war of the sexes and a romantic story of unexpected love. Mark Childress (“Mad in Alabama”) Leslie Daniels is a new voice in modern women’s prose that will delight those who have not lost the ability to laugh heartily. The expression “both laughter and tears” is perfectly suited to characterize the novel “Cleaning the House” Nabokov."bostonbookbums.comDaniels, with sympathetic humor and no self-consciousness, combines family drama, gender conflict, "sexual healing" and high literature in a funny but insightful story about one weirdo with zero self-esteem who still tries to reclaim her right to be a mother and to be loved.Booklist Leslie Daniels owes her success largely to the unusually endearing heroine and the incomparable intonation of her voice. Her Barbara is captivatingly sincere, hilariously funny, intolerant, harsh, kind, sensitive...Kirkus ReviewsEnjoyable reading - beautiful language, original characters...RT Book Reviews