Oh Mexico! Love and Adventure in Mexico City

"Every so often a young writer comes along who can open up a special place to us, and at the same time remind us all of the way we were. This is what Lucy Neville has done in this enchanting travel memoir." Carmen Callil "Delightful first book, the "chick-lit Bill Bryson"...Oh Mexico! fearlessly mixes it down on the streets of Mexico City, its sensibility is the antidote to every macho, exhaust-fogged travelogue that you have ever avoided reading. Somebody needs to cough up tributes to her skill at untangling Mexico's politics, her cool take on its religious cults and her gift for getting into scrapes, the most bizarre of which was being cast in Mexico's top soap opera. But she is best of all on the Mexican mentality." Andrew Billen, The Times "Part love story, part adventure, Oh Mexico! is a fun, light read, ideal for those eager to run away." - Courier Mail "Lucy takes you along as she deals with public transport, shopping, the endless doubles entendres of the local language (almost everything has a secondary, sexual connotation) male machismo, local politics, a hilariously fraught visit by her parents and sister and much more. Anybody who has ever been a 20-something traveller should enjoy this engaging read - think Holy Cow in Mexico." - Bookseller and Publisher "Mexico City is famous for decapitations and gang violence. So announcing you are moving there would worry most parents - even Lucy's "unshockable" father Richard Neville, once tried for obscenity in the infamous Oz Boys case. Lucy's comic observation and eye for the bizarre results in a classic coming of age romantic travel memoir that mixes Almost FrenchA" with Like Water for Chocolate." - Northside "A vibrant account of life in Mexico. It is a typical tale of an adventurous twentysomething... excellent when describing the challenge of finding a place to live, being overwhelmed by the sex appeal of her handsome flatmate, responding spontaneously to new and alien experiences, finding a job teaching English to a group of women she calls the "First Wives' Breakfast Club", struggling with the complexities of speaking a foreign language, unraveling the nuances of class in Mexican society and learning the subtleties and texture of daily life in Mexico City. The combination of adventure and romance is charming and informative. Her parents' arrival just as she is disentangling herself from love affairs with two men adds a frisson of clandestine chaos. Neville is a talented writer whose easy, warm style and very "non-chick lit" calmness in the presence of glamorous men makes for an entertaining account of two years and two loves in a city little known to many." - Sydney Morning Herald "At its very best, travel writing has the capacity to illuminate not only the heart of a traveller but of a country, too. The page-turning journey that is Oh Mexico! manages to do both things with considerable skill and frequent hilarity...Neville has the canny reserve of a born story teller ,capturing the dissonances as well as the melodies of expatriate life in a country like no other' Weekend West 'Neville's first book is a travel memoir written with all the panache the pizazz, the characters and suspense of a good novel." - Adelaide Advertiser