Janet Skeslien Charles, originally from Montana, currently lives in Paris where she leads writing workshops at the Left Bank bookshop Shakespeare & Company. Moonlight in Odessa is inspired by her two years as a Soros Fellow in Odessa, Ukraine. This is her first novel.

I loved my native city, but how I longed to escape, to go to America - a land full of eligible men...

Twenty-something Daria is an intelligent, bilingual secretary who should have her pick of the men in Odessa - except that the only men who are making advances are a dashing mafia gangster and her boss. Fearful that she'll be fired for refusing to sleep her way to the top, she decides to moonlight at Soviet UnionsT, an international marriage broker. But as she bridges the language gap between Odessan beauties and lonely American men she wonders if she will ever escape the trappings of Ukrainian life and find true love.

When she intercepts a message from a mild-mannered teacher, e-mails fly back and forth across the Atlantic. Daria soon finds herself much closer to the American dream than she had ever imagined, but will the charms of California prove to be more irresistible than all that she is prepared to leave behind?

WINNER OF THE MELISSA NATHAN AWARD FOR COMEDY ROMANCE

'A real treat: vividly told, wickedly funny and brave enough to confront the clichés and misinformation that still abound about life on both sides of the old iron curtain'

'Fantastically quirky, wry and funny'

'Comic, rich in atmosphere and full of irresistible Russian languor'

'This novel is certainly romantic, and certainly witty - but very much more besides ... A novel that stays with you for all the right reasons'

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian meets Desperate Housewives in this wry and sparkling debut