Foreign Affairs - Alison Lurie

In London to research children’s rhymes for her forthcoming book, Professor Vinnie Miner feels she is living in her proper element. In contrast Fred Tumer, a university colleague from New York State also studying in London, feels distinctly uneasy in his new surroundings.

Vinnie is 54, small, plain and timid. Fred is young, tall, dark and handsome, and unhappy – until Vinnie, taking pity on him, introduces him to some of her English friends. Vinnie meanwhile finds herself increasingly involved in the life of a disoriented American tourist – a person without inner resources who splits infinitives, as she at first characterises him.