Nikolai is 84 years old and in love with a 36 year old Ukrainian woman named Valentina. Nikolai is also Ukrainian but he immigrated to the UK after WW II.
Nikolai has two middle aged daughters, Nadezhda and Vera. Not surprisingly, the two daughters are strongly opposed to Nikolai's involvement with Valentina. They try to reason with their father, pointing out that the woman is just looking to establishing a residence in Britain by marrying a British citizen. He doesn't listen. Valentina is a very attractive sexy woman and he has fallen under her spell.
Nikolai does marry her and it soon become clear that she wants whatever she can get out of him. It also becomes clear that she married him believing he had way more money than he really has. She is constantly after him for more money, more things, more access to his savings. It also becomes clear that Nikolai is not the only man she has dangling after her. And that she was probably a prostitute back in Ukraine. Nikolai remains smitten and spends too much money trying to satisfy her many demands.
His two daughters intervene and convince him to file for a divorce. He is reluctant but agrees to file. He continues to waffle on going through with it though. When Valentina was with him, he could fool himself about himself. This cannot last, though, because she comes pushy and angry and threatens him. She eventually leaves his house, along with her teenage son. Though she no longer lives with Nikolai, she still pops in and out of his house and his life, trying to squeeze more money out of him, even trying to gain possession of his house. He is lucky that he has two daughters who do what it takes to protect their vulnerable father from the predacious Valentina.
This was an OK read. The four of them, the father, the two daughters and Valentina struggle against each other, first one is on top and then the other is on top and always there is Nikolai's indecision. He just liked thinking of himself as the manly 84 year old with the sexy young wife, the envy of all the other men. Never mind her selfishness and greed and bad character. It isn't even about the sex, which doesn't go much beyond the fondling stage.
My main problem with the story, other than that it was way too long, is that it is not funny. The reviews said it was funny. The blurbs on the cover said it was funny. It wasn't. I wanted funny.
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