High Tea and the Low Down: An American's Unfiltered Life in the UK

I lived in Spain for three years so it was easy to understand the idiosyncrasies of calling a foreign country “home”. Claire described so many situations where there was a world of difference between convention in the UK and the US in a hilarious manner. When she pulled the cord in the loo the reaction was identical to when my wife did the same in our hotel bathroom in Portugal. And the red tape having to pass a test “living in the UK” —I’m still laughing. A fun book.

It is a dream to live in England. I enjoy learning how others have acclimated into the society that is England. She had some funny experiences, and the things that she struggled with, are a cautionary tale of what not to do, and also what the best way to do things.

As a former study-abroad student myself, as well as a former practicing attorney, I don’t know which I found more entertaining: Claire’s stories as an American living in England or the snippets she revealed of her days practicing law in the States.When Claire described one of her client’s character witnesses as “wearing a bright orange ‘Honorary Oompa-Loompa’ T-shirt” to court, I burst out laughing because I knew from experience she wasn’t making something like that up!One of my favorite people in her book was “Mummy”, Claire and Ben’s ninety-year-old new neighbor they met when moving into their home in Peterborough. Claire’s description of “Mummy”, “ . . . yellow with age and nicotine”, and the stories she shared about this woman who spoke in an unintelligible Doric dialect had me laughing out loud!Claire is a wonderful storyteller! I thoroughly enjoyed her book and I highly recommend it for a fun and entertaining read!

For me this was a fun read as I lived in England—3 different places for 12 yrs. Driving—yes the scariest thing until I told myself—passenger on the curb-it was fun reading about the different words she had to use with different meanings from the US and she did really well—is she going to live there forever?

Well written and informative book . Quite the experience learning customs and cultural in Great Britain. It's a humorous book with British lingo I've heard before but never develed into. And the other terminology you've ran across in English literature or TV shows you didn't know what they were talking about. Also the favorite foods of England. I was pretty disappointed about American Cadbury chocolate though.

As an Anglophile, I'm always skeptical about books about "abroad" life in the UK. But, Evans puts my skepticism to rest in this charming series of essays on life across-the-pond as an American. I know Evans from my work as a library programmer and hired her do virtual programs for my library multiple times...all about various aspects of UK life. Her take on the differences between the Brits and the Yanks is funny, irreverent and sincere. I imagine all of these stories actually happened to her as opposed to invented fodder for this book. Thoroughly enjoyed this interesting and at times, wild, ride through Great Britain.

This is a witty, snarky book about the cultural differences between the US and the UK. It’s a memoir of the (mis) adventures of the American attorney author, Claire Craig Evans, who tries to adjust to life in the UK after moving there with her British husband. The book is filled with funny misunderstandings about language, idioms, and customs. The chapters on her getting her UK driver’s license and going antiquing and mistaking a chamber pot for an oversized coffee mug were especially hilarious.

A couple of her remarks , puzzled me

I don’t usually read memoir, but I wanted to try something different and I decided to give this book a go. I was really glad I did – I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Claire’s experiences of UK life after marrying her British husband. Being British myself, I was fascinated to see how Claire responded to our culture – and if you’ve ever wondered the same, this book is definitely for you. Claire’s husband’s family comes from Cornwall, in the far Southwest of England, where I also live, so I was particularly interested to see what she made of us!The stories of Claire’s ups and downs were relatable and funny. I rooted for her as she negotiated our rules, regulations and different social ways. For example, I was intrigued to get a first-hand account of the Living in the UK exam, something I’ve read about but have thankfully never had to take. I also picked up lots of things I didn’t know about American culture, through the contrasts with our own.“Laugh out loud” is maybe an overused phrase, but it definitely applies to this book, so much so that I had to read several parts aloud for my husband. (I’m still chuckling about Claire’s misunderstanding of our SLOW, marked on British roads, and I shall think of Claire whenever I see that).Part of the magic of the book was that, since Claire is married to a Brit, it didn’t only give me an ‘outsider’s’ view, because I was able to interpret events through his eyes as well. All in all, it was a charming take on two people from different cultures facing life’s challenges together, often with hilarious results.This author’s writing is engaging and lively, and she’s a natural storyteller. I understand that her next book will be fictional, and I’m looking forward very much to reading it.