Going Loco

I have been reading from The Lynne Truss Treasury the past few nights, a story ( novella?) called Going Loco. Laugh out loud funny. I wonder if Truss's sense of humour is obvious when you meet her in person. I've read two of the others in the Treasury now -With one lousy Packet of Seeds (also very funny) and Tennyson's Gift ( which I didn't care for as much).

Truss comes up with the oddest ideas and the oddest characters. In Going Loco, Belinda, a harried writer is married to a Stefan, a Swede, who turns out not to be Swedish or named Stefan at all but a man who is impersonating a mad Swedish scientist who is now dead but had originally kidnapped him to use him for cloning experiments. There is irony here as Belinda-who writes horsey novels for young girls- is trying to write a more academic book about Literary Doubles through the ages. Belinda's friend has a cleaning lady, Linda, who is a "gem" but Belinda tempts her away from her friend to come work for her-since her household is a shambles- and Linda begins to take over Belinda's life. Really take over, doubling for her in public for example. All this sounds quite serious but the way Lynne writes it, it's a hoot. I am not quite finished it and wonder how she will end it.