books 2005: The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax, by Dorothy Gillman

[supercheesegirl]

I finished this last night. I'm so glad a friend of lady_anemone's turned me on to this series. I absolutely adore Mrs. Pollifax and I want to read all the rest of her adventures.

This is the first book in the series. Mrs. Pollifax is an old lady, a widow, whose children live far away. She's a member of the Garden Club and volunteers at the hospital, but she still feels something's missing. She decides she's going to follow her lifelong dream to become a spy, so she goes to Washington to apply. The CIA sends her on a routine courier mission in Mexico City, but of course something goes awry.... Mrs. Pollifax is just such a refreshingly spunky character. She's a sweet old lady, so people (even terrorists) tend to have a soft spot for her, and she is able to use her image to her advantage in a lot of ways. But she's not conniving or mean, and she feels really badly when she has to deceive people. She's just an excellent character, and the book was fluff, but in a good way. Very enjoyable.

Comments

[lydian.livejournal.com]

Woo woo!! I LOVED Mrs. Pollifax as a kid. LOVED her. I think my favorite is the one where she escaped from Albania. Woo woo!!

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

That was this one, the communists kidnapped her from Mexico City and took her to Albania. She was totally awesome. I can't wait to read more of her adventures!

[lydian.livejournal.com]

No kidding?! I had forgotten the Mexico City part entirely, I only remembered the Albanian bits. This is great, now I don't have to read through dozens of Amazon.com entries to figure out which one that was!!

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

I just lent it to Amy, but you can have my copy to read when she's done.