num_pages: 360
description: You can't keep a good man down . . . even when he's dead! When an American mother and ex-journalist is overwhelmed by her new Swiss home, a visitor pops out of nowhere offering to relieve her son's asthma, her husband's distracted absence and her problems grappling with village life. Is he the village crackpot or - as he claims - the Greatest Mind of the Eighteenth Century? This talkative character in kneebreeches and a powdered wig is the last straw. Though she begs him to disappear, he unpacks his moldy trunk and a lifetime of stories instead. Slowly "V." becomes her stalwart best friend as they laugh, bicker and he teaches her the best lesson of how to live life to its fullest.
language: English
title: A Visit from Voltaire
titlecomplete: A Visit from Voltaire
genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Christmas, Historical
ratings_count: 121
places: Saint-Cergue, Paris
awards: awardedAt: 1072944000000
name: Orange Prize
category: Fiction Longlist
publisher: Orion Publishing Group