Eloise in Moscow

Book excerpt: Here's Eloise, little Miss Diplomat in Moscow where it absolutely nothing but blizzards and nyet, nyet, nyet, and dasvidanya. Here Eloise does what she does best - tests the hotelski room service to its limit (here's what is not allowed: Diner's Club Card ), teaches the pigeons ballet and skibbles around town taking in Red Square and the Kremlin, the Circus, the Ballet and some ice skating. Nanny becomes partial to black caviar from the Caspian Sea and they listen to rawther a lot of music from Helsinki. The all-American Eloise and late 1950s Moscow prove to be a unique combination. Thompson and Knight perfectly convey the greyness of the city and the Cold War paranoia, but Eloise's infectious good-nature manages to pervade the whole city. It all amounts to a history and geography lesson complete with Eloise's unique mixture of precocious etiquette, mischief and nonsense.