[close] In this wickedly funny first novel-think Legally Blonde at Oxford-a young New York woman exchanges her corporate job for a year of books, blokes, and new friends in graduate school in England. Alexandra Brennan is fed up with her dead end New York City job-and even more fed up with running into her smug ex-boyfriend. So when he crosses the line by telling her that she'll never get into graduate school in the United Kingdom, that's precisely what she does. Armed with imported cigarettes and extra-strength coffee, Alex crosses the Atlantic to face all that Great Britain and grad school have to offer, including ill-considered romantic interludes, a red-headed nemesis with intellectual pretensions and ulterior motives, and more books than she can possibly read in a year. What she discovers, however, is that instead of running away from home, she may have actually found it. With its cheeky wit and terrific cast of characters, ENGLISHASASECONDLANGUAGE is a hilarious coming-of-age story readers won't soon forget about one young woman's misadventures along the path to adulthood. [close]