Hunting Unicorns by Bella Pollen, Gabrielle De Cuir (2005, Unabridged, Compact Disc)

Maggie is the daughter of erstwhile flower children who are committed to causes but not to people. She grows up to be a self-sufficient, emotionally alienated, feminist television journalist. Rory is the youngest son in a family of self-indulgent alcoholics. He grows up to be an emotionally repressed teetotaler. When Maggie gets sent to England to do a piece on British nobility, she is steered to Rory whose business matches gentry finding it difficult to maintain their expensive manors with tourists and renters who can help them defray their expenses. He prepares an itinerary of stately homes for her to observe and film.

Rory and Maggie clash, then fall in love and live happily ever after. In between are some very clever observations on both British and American cultures, some hilarious slapstick encounters with peers of the Realm, lots of witty dialogue, and many surprisingly touching insights about family ties.

This is an easygoing, entertaining love story. Christopher Cazenove has more than a few appropriate upper-crust accents up his sleeve. Gabrielle De Cuir also differentiates characters and neatly captures Maggie’s crisp, professionalism and her inner isolation.