Daria is 25, lives in Odessa and has landed herself a plum job with a foreign company. The stone in the plum is her boss, Mr Harmon, who makes it clear that sleeping with him is her first duty. She evades his clutches by setting him up with her neighbour, Olga, as his new mistress, and soon finds herself moonlighting as an interpreter for 'Soviet Unions', a dating agency that specialises in finding Odessan brides for lonely Americans. A tragi-comic debut, with a serious issue at its heart, reminiscent of Marina Lewycka. Trade paperback.