Madame Doubtfire

Anne Fine

Mar 2003 · Puffin

About this ebook

Lydia, Christopher and Natalie are used to domestic turmoil. Their parents' divorce has not made family life any easier in either home. The children bounce to and from their volatile mother, Miranda, and their out-of-work actor father, Daniel. Then Miranda advertises for a cleaning lady who will look mind the children after work - and Daniel gets the job, disguised as Madame Doubtfire. This bittersweet, touching and extremely funny book inspired the highly successful film Mrs Doubtfire, starring Robin Williams.

 

From AudioFile

Some divorces are particularly fierce, especially when children are involved. However, few fathers resort to donning a disguise in order to have greater access to their children. Amanda takes every opportunity to prevent Daniel from seeing their three children. When she advertises for a housekeeper to care for them, Daniel applies for the job in female disguise. The narrator is excellent. The children, nosy neighbor and vicious fights between the parents are all presented most effectively. The tone and tempo of the story are exemplified by Planer's delivery. This is a fun story, but the parents' arguments may be handled best by older children. The movie is based on this book. S.G.B. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

 

About the Author Anne Fine has written numerous highly acclaimed and prize-winning books for children and adults. The Tulip Touch won the Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year Award; Goggle-Eyes won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Award and the Carnegie Medal; Flour Babies won the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year; and Bill’s New Frock won a Smarties Prize. Anne Fine was named Children’s Laureate in 2001 and was awarded an OBE in 2003.

About the author

Though readers often find themselves inadvertently laughing aloud as they read Anne Fine's novels, as she herself admits, "a lot of my work, even for fairly young readers, raises serious social issues. Growing up is a long and confusing business. I try to show that the battle through the chaos is worthwhile and can, at times, be seen as very funny." In 1994, this unique combination of humour and realism inspired the hit movie MRS. DOUBTFIRE, based on Anne's novel MADAME DOUBTFIRE and starring the late comedic genius Robin Williams.

Anne is best known in her home country, England, as a writer principally for children, but over the years she has also written eight novels for adult readers. Seven of these she describes as black - or sour - comedies, and the first, THE KILLJOY, simply as "dead black". These novels have proved great favourites with reading groups, causing readers to squirm with mingled horror and delight as she peels away the layers in all too familiar family relationships, exposing the tangled threads and conflicts beneath. (It's perhaps not surprising that Anne has openly expressed astonishment at the fact that murder in the domestic setting is not even more common.)

Anne has written more than sixty books for children and young people. Amongst numerous other awards, she is twice winner of both the Carnegie Medal, Britain's most prestigious children's book award, and the Whitbread Award. Twice chosen as Children's Author of the Year in the British Book Awards, Anne Fine was also the first novelist to be honoured as Children's Laureate in the United Kingdom. In 2003, Anne became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was awarded an OBE. Her work has been translated into forty five languages.

Anne Fine lives in the north of England and has two grown up daughters.