Social Comedy

Arabella

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by Georgette Heyer

What a joy after recent reads to fall back on an old favorite that has one of the most lovable and admirable heroines in all of the great Georgette Heyer’s works. Not to mention one of my favorite heroes. I listened to this on Audible and the narration by Gemma Whelan was excellent. When I am asked what my favorite GH regency is, without thinking twice I usually point to this one. Sometimes another, but most likely this one. I believe it may be the first one I ever read back when I was probably 12 or 13. I am proud of my tween self, too used to the obvious romance and strict formula of contemporary and historical gothics, for pushing through the strange words and mannered sentence structure and so much else, to recognize the sheer brilliance and entertainment value of Georgette Heyer. I became a lifelong devotee and gobbled up the rest of her books like candy.

I won’t go into the plot too much because it’s really not all that important. Heyer’s genius is the world she builds, her wit, her comedy, and her characters. Particularly her secondary characters. The setting is my favorite of the several that Heyer usually employs  It’s not a road trip, at an Inn, or at a country estate. It is set in the glittery world of London at the height of the season where the elite of society engage in all manner of entertainments and activities with an eye to marrying off their daughters to eligible bachelors who, in turn, need heirs to carry on their line.

Our heroine, Arabella, a country vicar’s daughter, is sent to London to be brought out by her society matron Godmother. On her way to the big city, she meets Robert Beaumaris when she is forced to ask for shelter at his hunting box due to a carriage breakdown. Mr. Beaumaris is the richest, most admired, and feted Corinthian in the land and is constantly being pursued by hopeful young females. He assumes that Arabella is one of their ilk and she overhears him explaining this to his guest Lord Fleetwood. Being a girl of spirit, she is mightily offended and is goaded to portray herself as a fabulously wealthy heiress to disabuse him of his false assumption and to teach him a lesson.

She contrived, without precisely making so vulgar a boast, to convey the impression that she was escaping from courtships so persistent as to amount to persecution; and Mr Beaumaris, listening with intense pleasure, said that London was the very place for anyone desirous of escaping attention.

Of course, he sees right through her and it amuses him to make her the belle of the season which he can do by merely not looking bored in her presence.

Because of Mr. Beaumaris’s flattering attentions, Arabella’s season fast becomes a success beyond her wildest dreams. When she and her Godmother become aware that the whole of London believes her to be fabulously wealthy, it certainly explains why gazetted fortune hunters are hanging around a poor vicar’s daughter. Arabella, whose conscience is finely honed thanks to her upbringing, feels terribly guilty and to make matters more awkward, she is falling for the sophisticated Mr. Beaumaris. She can’t bear to tell him what a lying silly fool she was. Not to mention his power, with a glance, to squash all of her popularity and her mother’s hopes of her attracting an eligible suitor. As for Mr. Beaumaris, much to his bemusement, he unexpectedly finds himself wound around her little finger. He has grown to realize that not only is Arabella beautiful and unspoiled, but she is a person of great moral and physical courage. In short, the girl he has been looking for all of his life. Not that he was looking for such a girl of course, but someone of substance who would not bore him. The scenes where Arabella, in his presence, rescues a chimney sweep from his cruel master and routs a gang of boys torturing a dirty mongrel, are two of the most entertaining and heartwarming scenes in all of Heyer. The scenes in which the cool and sophisticated Mr. Beaumaris agrees to provide each of these unattractive unfortunates with safe havens and their subsequent effect on his formerly peaceful household (and him) follow closely behind.

The delights of this book are many. Some of my favorites other than those mentioned above, are:

The scenes with Arabella’s large and loving family at the beginning and Mr. Beaumaris’ description of his visit to her family in the wilds of Yorkshire to ask permission for her hand at the end.

Arabella, her sister, and her mother’s preparations to ensure Arabella is not viewed as a country bumpkin when she is introduced to society. And Arabella’s  astonishment and secret amusement at the irony when Mr. Beaumaris compliments her on setting an example of taste and modesty in her jewelry and attire that her fellow debutantes are trying to copy.

Mr. Beaumaris’s conversations with and asking for the advice of Ulysses, the rescued mutt that immediately becomes slavishly devoted to him. Heyer’s detailed descriptions of Ulysses’s behavior make him one of the most entertaining characters in the book. The author’s lifelong love and knowledge of dogs shines through.

Chase that cur out of here, Joe! …‘Do nothing of the sort, Joe!’ interrupted Mr Beaumaris.
‘Is he yours sir?’ gasped the landlord.
‘Certainly he is mine. A rare specimen: his family tree would surprise you!’

Mr. Beaumaris’ visit to his grandmother, one of the great dames of her time, to prepare her for his impending marriage, if Arabella will have him.

When the book takes a long side trip to deal with the cautionary tale of Arabella’s brother Bertram’s arrival in London, I resented, in the past, the time away from Arabella’s adventures and romance. But this time, thanks to the narration, many of the scenes of Bertram’s descent into danger and probable disgrace were highlights. His desperation in trying to gamble his way out of debt in an exclusive gaming house playing at a table banked by none other than “The Nonpareil” himself. And how Beaumaris navigates the dilemma of how to handle the situation. And Arabella braving the squalor and danger of the most poverty-stricken area of London to rescue him. Leaky Peg! Quattern Sue! (and her gin-drinking baby!)

In thinking about Arabella, I wonder whom of Georgette Heyer’s many wonderful heroines would take on the salvation of dirty climbing boys, abused horses, mangy curs, sick parlor maids, or slatternly prostitutes. That is, should they be so unhappy as to come across them, of course. At the end of the book, I took a minute to envision Arabella’s and Robert’s future life beyond the pages of the book. As well as a devoted society wife and mother, I am convinced she will become a famous philanthropist and a great lady who will tackle the many evils of the day. But in large ways as well as small. In this, she will be ably assisted by her husband who, though not getting his hands dirty, will unfailingly support and defend her against the disapproval of their peers with his great wealth and influence. Perhaps he will even run for office with Arabella’s persistent encouragement?

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Watermelon

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By Marian Keyes

“Temporary Insanity had come a-knocking and I had shouted “Come on in the door is open.” Luckily, Reality had come unexpectedly and found Temporary Insanity roaming the corridors of my mind unchecked, going into rooms, opening cupboards, reading my letters, looking in my underwear drawer, that kind of thing. Reality had run and got Sanity. And after a tussle, they both had managed to throw out Temporary Insanity and slam the door in his face. Temporary Insanity now lay on the gravel in the driveway of my mind, panting and furious, shouting, “She invited me in, you know. She asked me in. She wanted me there.”

I’ve been re-reading Marian Keyes’s books on Audible for the last couple of years. They have been so rich and funny. I had only read Watermelon, Keyes’s introduction to the Walsh family, one time, and it was a long time ago. I remember not being too impressed with it.
I re-read Rachel’s Holiday (again) in 2022 in preparation for its long-anticipated sequel, Again, Rachel. I had previously listened to Helen’s story, The Mystery of Mercy Close, in 2020, and somewhere in there  Mammy Walsh’s A-Z of the Walsh Family, because I felt the need to re-acquaint myself with Helen and the rest of them. In those latter books, Claire is an interesting but not particularly nice woman. In fact, she is rather unlikable. Not so in this one. I was amazed by how different she is in this first book from how I remembered her. Perhaps because I listened to it on Audible rather than read it, I loved Watermelon this time. I thought it was hilarious and engaging throughout. Part of this may have been the narrator’s charming Irish accent and inflections which made Claire, who narrates her story in first person, even more sympathetic and charming than on paper. I was rooting for her all the way. Another reason I was so taken with her was that she addresses the reader directly in a metatextual way which made me feel a personal connection to her.

This is not a plot-driven book. The book begins with Claire, having just given birth, being told by her husband while she is still in the hospital, that he is leaving her for another woman.

Who’s in charge around here? I’d like to complain about my life. I distinctly ordered a happy life with a loving husband to go with my newborn baby and what was this shoddy travesty that I’d been served up instead?

From there, we go with her on her journey from grief and devastation, confusion, and anger to healing and a fresh start with a new and wonderful man. But first, she leaves London and goes home to Dublin to live with her parents and two of her sisters, Helen and Anna, who still live at home. The book mainly consists of Claire’s musings, observations, and memories. As she remembers it and tells it, her marriage with James was blissful, and James, as she remembers him to us, seems like a great guy and her perfect match. Until he finally shows up, that is. We see that he is actually a pompous sanctimonious pig. For me, this added an extra layer of interest because I started to wonder about Claire’s reliability as a narrator if not her sanity. Or does James have a point when he accuses her of being childish, selfish, and a total flake? Claire had expected regret and shame from James but instead, he actually blames her for his having the affair. At first, James has Claire completely gaslighted. She starts to believe him and he has her under his thumb with her apologizing to him and promising to change her ways to save their marriage. Luckily her delusion was very brief and she comes to her senses with a vengeance.

No more humiliation for me, thanks very much. No more swallowing my anger. Honestly, I couldn’t manage another mouthful.

In many of her later books, Marian’s heroines are victimized and bamboozled by bad men throughout the whole book. I was thrilled such was not the case with Claire. She pretty much sees him for what he is, but is very confused and she feels she has to try again for the sake of their baby.

I loved the character of Adam, Claire’s love interest. He is such a great guy that the fact that he loves and admires Claire serves to reassure us that however flawed and crazy she sometimes is, she is a lovable and good person. Their romance is sweet, as is her love for her baby Kate. And of course, the rest of the Walshes are a constant source of entertainment and amazement.

Next to read on my agenda is Angels, which features Margaret, the “good” sister, who was not in this one. After that, hippy-dippy druggie Anna’s story, which I remember as being heartrending, and then a re-read of scary and combative Helen’s story. It will be interesting to meet Claire again in those and see how (or if) she changes or if this book is just another side of her.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Black Sheep

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By Georgette Heyer

“She thought, in touching innocence, that in Miles Calverleigh she had found a friend, and a better one by far than any other, because his mind moved swiftly, because he could make her laugh even when she was out of charity with him, and because of a dozen other attributes which were quite frivolous – hardly attributes at all, in fact – but which added up to a charming total, outweighing the more important faults in his character.”

“I love you, you know,’ he said conversationally. ‘Will you marry me?’ The manner in which he made this abrupt proposal struck her as being so typical of him that a shaky laugh was dragged from her. ‘Of all the graceless ways of making me an offer – ! No, no, you are not serious! you cannot be!’ ‘Of course I’m serious! A pretty hobble I should be in if I weren’t, and you accepted my offer!


I can’t deny Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer 5-star status. It was formerly a 4-star and thus relegated to second-tier status (for a Heyer). This is not a book I re-read over and over like These Old Shades, Frederica, Cotillion, or Arabella to name a few. It was one of her later books (though the book right after Frederica, one of my favorites,) when her powers were not at their height. The one after this was the almost universally disparaged Cousin Kate, and the one after that was the boring and flat Charity Girl, and the one after that was Lady of Quality, which is really just a pale imitation of this one. And we will let the unfortunate My Lord John lay there undisturbed out of respect. But this one is a fan favorite and when it was on sale at Audible with a new reader, Natalie Simpson, I bought it and took the opportunity to reacquaint myself with it and discover what is behind its popularity. And I did.

The reader was “unexceptional” which in Heyer-speak means perfectly fine. I won’t go into the plot except that it revolves around our heroine coming to Bath to prevent a disastrous misalliance between her much loved 17-year-old niece and Stacy Caverleigh, a suave and charming cad and fortune hunter. She tries to enlist the help of his uncle, Miles Caverleigh, who has recently returned from 20 years of exile in India. Unfortunately for Abigail, if Miles had any religion, it would be against his to get involved.

He was not a rebel. Rebels fought against the trammels of convention, and burned to rectify what they saw to be evil in the shibboleths of an elder generation, but Miles Calverleigh was not of their number. No wish to reform the world inspired him, not the smallest desire to convert others to his own way of thinking. He accepted, out of a vast and perhaps idle tolerance, the rules laid down by a civilised society, and, when he transgressed these, accepted also, and with unshaken good-humour, society’s revenge on him. Neither the zeal of a reformer, nor the rancour of one bitterly punished for the sins of his youth, awoke a spark of resentment in his breast. He did not defy convention: when it did not interfere with whatever line of conduct he meant to pursue he conformed to it; and when it did he ignored it, affably conceding to his critics their right to censure him, if they felt so inclined, and caring neither for their praise nor their blame.


Abigail and Miles are perfect for each other from the very beginning. Their attraction to each other was palpable throughout. I particularly loved Miles. He kind of reminded me of Rhett Butler: Somewhat of a “loose screw”, but ultimately a good man who goes his own way and doesn’t care two hoots about the silly conventional rules of society.

But, we come to learn, he respects the feelings and values of people who really matter to him (when they aren’t being swayed by pesky outside influences, that is.) By people who matter, I mostly mean Abigail, of course. As beloved as she is to her older clingy sister Serena, and her young niece, Fanny, to the rest of her conventional conservative family, she is almost as much of a Black Sheep as Miles is to society at large. He turns out to be the missing piece she didn’t know she lacked to break her free from her constricted life and become truly free and happy. Which will only happen after the final delightful scene in the book.

As for Miles, it is through his machinations which we only suspect are going on behind the scenes, and then not until the book is in its final chapters, that things work out to the satisfaction of all of those we like, and the disgruntlement of those we don’t. Young Fanny is saved and is well on her way to a suitable love match with another, Stacy, the villain, is vanquished in 6 different ways to Sunday, society and conventional forces are flouted but will soon be brought to heel, and those that love and depend on Abigail a little too much are gently set aside. As for Abigail and Miles they will embark on a marriage and a life that we imagine will be filled with passion, adventure, and even peace when it suits them. And it is all pretty epic.
Other than Venetia, I think it is one of the most romantic of Heyer’s Novels. Brava to the genius of Georgette Heyer.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Spin

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By Catherine McKenzie

“So, most days you need something to make you feel happy?” I knew it was a trick! “I guess.” “And if you weren’t drinking, would you be unhappy most days?” My eyes wander to the oblong window above Saundra’s head. The sky is gray and cloudy. “I don’t know . . . I really don’t think of myself as unhappy . . .” “Katie, when you’re using alcohol regularly to alter your mood, it’s generally an indication that there’s something that needs to be altered.”

This one started out full of promise and possibilities, and very reminiscent of Rachel’s Holiday, the almost classic Marian Keyes novel. But because I couldn’t help but compare them, it was ultimately disappointing. Rachel’s Holiday was so deep, dark, and hilarious. There were definitely some good things about this one. The premise was a great idea and roped me in right away.

Kate, a talented but struggling writer is in denial about her alcoholism. When she is invited to interview for a position in a respected music review magazine, The Line, she is thrilled. This is her dream job. She is invited by a friend to go out to celebrate this and her upcoming birthday the night before the interview. She puts up a weak resistance knowing she has to be on her game for the interview, but goes out anyway for “just one drink.” She shows up at the interview still drunk from the night before and simultaneously hung over. I’ll draw a veil. But when Amber Shepard a young star and current tabloid fodder enters rehab, they remember Kate. One of The Line’s affiliates is a celebrity gossip rag and they tap her to follow Amber into rehab to get the goods on the young erratic “It Girl.” If she does a good job, The Line will hire her for their magazine.

Written in first person by Kate, it was funny, serious, and well-written. I liked her voice. But the book doesn’t go deep enough. It’s kind of vague about many things. For example, how much does Kate really drink? We know it’s a lot. She randomly tells the doctor she drinks 2 bottles of wine every day which is what she guesses would qualify to get her into Cloudspin Oasis, the rehab facility, but is she lying or telling the truth? Kate is a liar about many things. It would have been effective if we find out that Kate is either lying to the reader, or if the reader is clear about the truth.  We meet a few of the patients but we never get their journeys. They really don’t add anything to the story. Of course, get to know Amber as Kate is successful in befriending her and gaining her trust. Amber is a good character, but Kate is warned not to let her get too close because she is dangerous. That knowledge keeps us suspicious and watchful of Amber, but nothing really plays out.

Amber is famously entangled with Connor Parks, another hot movie actor who plays the Young James Bond in a movie franchise. He follows her to rehab (why?) and it is when he enters the scene, about halfway through, that I started losing interest. It was one inauthenticity too many. First off that would never be allowed.  Things became just so facile and contrived. Connor has a personal assistant who is allowed to enter rehab with him to look after him. What? Wouldn’t happen. He is Kate’s love interest and boring. I just can’t invest in a romance where the guy is an enabler of a bad person and addict just because he is an old-school friend. It conflicts with his character big time. The “why” of their relationship is a mystery and could have been intriguing but ended up to be more unexplored potential.  Kate is able to smuggle in an Apple iTouch to submit copy to the gossip rag and is never caught. Wouldn’t happen. The doctors and therapists are naive and gullible. They seem incapable of holding anyone’s feet to the fire. There is no meaningful therapy that goes on. We never really get to the source of Kate’s addiction. Her friends, both enabling and disapproving, visit her but nothing comes of it. There was some hope when Kate’s eccentric and permissive old hippie parents were introduced. Failing anything interesting happening with her friends, I was hoping for some drama, revelations, and secrets uncovered involving them but it just fizzled as well. It looked like something might come of her relationship with her hostile and jealous sister, but again it came to nothing. We never get to the pain. Once Kate is out of detox which if Kate is anything to go by is no big deal, there are no struggles stemming from being cut off from alcohol and forced sobriety. When she finishes her 30 days and is released there is no real battle to remain sober. She does fall off the wagon once but just climbs back on again and all is well. Easy peasy.

Once out of rehab and sober, Kate does have one problem. How can she betray Amber who she likes and is now her friend? This is what triggers her short relapse. And then Amber finds out. This part of the book, the last 20% or so, where Kate’s dilemma is resolved in a satisfactory way, is pretty good.

I gave the book 3 stars because I kept reading and didn’t end up skipping through to get to the end. It kept my interest, but it just didn’t fulfill the potential that it promised in the beginning. For such a long book, it took too many shortcuts.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

The Burnout

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By Sophie Kinsella

“Don’t worry,” I say hastily. “It’s fine.”
“It is not fine.” He shakes his head mournfully. “It is far from fine. These are not the high standards we expect of ourselves at the Rilston. We have let you down and we have let ourselves down….
“Believe me, Ms. Worth, I am mortified by our failure. I will get you that noni juice, if I have to squeeze the noni myself.” “Well…thank you,” I say, feeling embarrassed….
“Other than that, has your stay been comfortable so far? You’re here for a health break, I understand? Ah, here’s Nikolai with your green smoothie,” he adds. “In the absence of organic kale, our chef used frozen Birds Eye peas.” Birds Eye peas?

This was a delightful and entertaining new Sophie Kinsella, just not my favorite. I liked the premise and the romance. As usual, although portraying women, their foibles, and ultimate healing and triumph is her specialty, she always creates a romance with a worthy and intriguing hero. This one was no exception. I loved both Sasha and Finn. And as always, there were plenty of laughs and plenty of heart. Kinsella’s humor is effortless. And our heroine was not the silly flake on the edge of disaster that so many of her women characters are through many of her books.

Oh, she starts off pretty crazy. Sasha works at a prestigious and successful company in the marketing department. Unfortunately, it is very poorly run which is frustrating to her, and poor management has resulted in much work and too little time to do it. To add to her stress, she has to answer to Joanne, her boss’s henchwoman, whose main priority is an “aspirations mood board” and insists that she must use the little time she has to “find her joy”. Or else. When Sasha finally breaks down in a panic attack, it is both funny and alarming. She tries to join the convent next door and knocks herself out by literally running into a brick wall. Put on medical leave by her doctor, she retreats to a haven of her childhood, Rilston Beach, of which she has so many happy memories. Her mother books her a room in the formerly fabulous and elite Rilston Hotel, which was far above her family’s touch when they spent their summer vacations in the town. But it is the off-season. And I mean off in more ways than one. There at the all but deserted hotel, she meets a fellow sufferer from burn-out, Finn Birchall. And as usual in a Kinsella novel initial antipathy and misunderstanding eventually turns to friendship and then love. Along the way, they make friends with the quirky and endearing skeleton staff of the once glamorous resort hotel, some of the townspeople, and most importantly the beloved and legendary surf instructor, Terry, who is now sadly suffering from dementia in his old age. And we get a mystery or two to keep things chugging along.

Unfortunately, the ending was a disappointment. Oh, it was a happy one of course. But it was just too pat and easily won. The reader is prepared for a real struggle that Finn is going through between a painful breakup with his girlfriend of 10 years and his new relationship with Sasha. We are led to believe it was the reason for his freak-out at work. Sasha learns about this through a rather sketchy action on her part. Usually, when our heroine does something she should probably be ashamed of (like spying or lying) she gets caught out, and embarrassed, and it causes a big problem with the hero. But refreshingly, Kinsella does not rely on this cliched cause of drama. I was very relieved. But in the end, we learn that the break up with his ex-girlfriend was not such a big deal after all. His heart is free. The whole problem which separated them for 6 months was just glossed over with no explanation. Even though his 10-year relationship with his ex, Olivia, was all but forgotten (I guess), he kept it a secret from Sasha for some mysterious reason. Actually, we don’t know if he went through any pain at all over it. It seems like it must have been pretty traumatic going by Olivia’s Instagram that Sasha understandably pours over. Was she the lovely woman that she seems? Did their lives take different directions and they just each agreed to move on with no drama? Was it something more hurtful or shocking? Or was it just that her Instagram was not an accurate portrayal of their lives together at all? This was the theme of the last Kinsella novel I read, My Not So Perfect Life.
We are left in the dark, and I don’t like being left in the dark. It didn’t ruin the book, but it was just so confoundedly weird and unnecessary.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

My (not so) Perfect Life

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By Sophie Kinsella

Original review: March, 2017.
Right up to Sophie Kinsella’s best work. As usual, Kinsella is a master at showing the characters and personalities of her players, not just telling you. It was very refreshing that she didn’t follow the usual “country good, city bad” cliche. I liked the message and it’s a welcome reminder, when, with social media, one thinks one knows a person and their life. Maybe you really don’t. **4 stars**

**Additional thoughts upon re-reading on Audible. 10/03/2023**
I am bumping this one up to 5 stars. First of all, the narration by Fiona Hardingham was funny and touching. I loved her Somerset accent and hearing it really highlighted the divide between country people and city people and the accompanying assumptions that are made. She made Katie so lovable, and her boss, Demeter, so layered. She was contemptible and admirable at the same time. What a character!

Katie is a farm girl raised by a single father who has made her way to London. To be a “Londoner” has been her dream. She works in an advertising agency, and though she is the low man on the totem pole, she is a tryer, and she has talent. To make a long story of her personal and professional struggles short, she gets laid off and is forced to return to the farm in disgrace. Not wanting to disappoint her loving Dad, she tells him and his second wife Biddy that she is on sabbatical. Her Dad and Biddy have decided to turn their farm into a “Glamping” site, and thanks solely to Katie’s guidance and marketing talent, it is a fabulous success.

Katie’s old London boss, Demeter, is a piece of work. Katie was a great admirer and thought that Demeter had the perfect life. Demeter is brilliant and creative (almost a legend in her field) but is totally disorganized, has no self-awareness, is a braggart, does not play well with others, and many other things. When she fires Katie in the most insensitive manner possible, Katie joins her former officemates in hating her guts. Then Demeter shows up at her family’s glamping site for a family vacation. And Katie starts to hilariously and cleverly wreak her revenge.

How she goes from being Demeter’s mortal enemy to her comrade in arms is as funny and entertaining as can be. Together, as an unlikely team, they turn each other’s trouble-filled and imperfect lives into darn near-perfect ones. I think Demeter is one of Sophie Kinsella’s most wonderful creations. And Katie’s journey is heartwarming and exhilarating. Of course, there is a romance for Katie, and, as usual, her love interest is appealing and a bit unusual with issues of his own.
This book is romantic comedy at its best. And a witty satire to boot.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Listening Valley

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by D. E. Stevenson

“Don’t be frightened of life, it’s good. Make friends with life…”

I swear, every time I read a D. E. Stevenson novel I declare it’s the best one yet. And this one is no exception. This was an Audible so I don’t have all of the facts or details at my fingertips and some things are a little fuzzy. It is another journey of a young city girl who is too shy, too easily dominated, and too insecure who stiffens her spine enough to live a normal happy life in the Scottish countryside.

We follow Tonia (our heroine) and her beautiful, spirited, and charming sister Lou through their childhood. Lou is everything Tonia is not, and as a result, Lou protects and does everything she can to make Tonia’s life as stress-free as possible. In addition to her diffident personality, Tonia has weak hands so is always dropping things and appears awkward and clumsy. In addition, when things get too much for her, she sometimes goes into a kind of trance, which Tonia calls her “listening valley”. On the outside, when she does this in front of people, it looks like she is not quite all there mentally (to put it kindly). But the two sisters love each other very much. Their well-off, unshakeably respectable, but uncaring parents ignore the girls and particularly belittle Tonia constantly. They are just terrible parents (which DES writes so well). The mother particularly never lets an opportunity go by to let them know what a disappointment they are. It’s hateful, especially since they are totally oblivious to the fact that they are the ones at fault for their odd ways. Lou escapes first when she shockingly elopes while still a teenager. Luckily she picks a good guy from a good if rather nonconformist family (his mother was divorced-horrors) and they are happily married. Unfortunately, this leaves poor Tonia at the mercy of her mother with no support, especially after her beloved Nanny is laid off. Fortunately, she soon catches the eye of a colleague of her father and despite the 40-year age difference, they marry. Marriage to Robert proves to be Tonia’s salvation. Wealthy and brilliant, he sees through to Tonia’s beautiful soul (I cringe when I write that, but it is perfectly true) and loves her devotedly. He dedicates himself to her development and to making her happy. They are married for about 5 years, before Robert, who is a great character, dies from stress and overwork as a vital contributor to the war effort in London.

Tonia is alone again, but thanks to Robert, she is a different person and is well able to handle herself, while still remaining kind, gentle, and rather unworldly. She also is now very very wealthy. She escapes London, her dominating sister-in-law, and her mean and shallow daughter who only want to take advantage of her wealth. Because of an old act of generosity to her old Nanny, she has inherited a country “cottage” in Ryddleton, a popular setting for several of Stevenson’s novels. And there, summarizing half the book in one sentence, she makes friends and finds love with an old childhood schoolmate who is now a dashing R.A.F. squadron leader. And just to add a touch of intrigue, he is engaged to a two-faced French baggage who turns out to be spying for “Gerry.”

Stevenson has a gift for drawing you into her world and making every ripple in her characters’ rather calm lives totally engrossing. She makes me care about everything that happens no matter how trivial. She often creates situations that could lead to dramatic juicy scenes, but unfortunately, she tends to avoid big drama and confrontation, though some do sometimes sneak through. Many scenes do stand out in this book, but I will mention only a few.

Robert questioning Tonia on what the doctors had said about her hands, and what treatments they had recommended. He is disturbed to find out that her parents had never bothered to look into what was wrong. Too self-involved. Too busy with their own lives and concerns. It is then that Robert realizes he has to marry Tonia, get her away, and start repairing the damage.

Robert’s conversation with Lou when he and his new bride travel to visit her and her husband in India. Lou, though seeing how happy Tonia now is, can’t help but be a little suspicious and standoffish with Robert. She gets him alone to probe his motivations but the tables are turned. He is obliged to explain that he married Tonia not only because he loves her, but to undo the harm that she, Lou, did to her. Lou is flabbergasted. Robert explains that her over-protectiveness and then her abandonment was almost Tonia’s undoing. Lou thinks about it, and replies, “What a beast I am!” I love that she got it.

Tonia’s night in a London bomb shelter where she helps the doctor who becomes a family friend, and makes tea for everyone with the help of a young boy. We are anxious and on edge worrying about how Robert is faring with the bombs raining down all night. But Tonia remains strong throughout.

I immediately loved Bay, a mischievous and carefree school friend who teasingly calls Tonia “butterfingers.” Tonia senses he does not mean it unkindly but in an affectionate way. He disappears from the book for a stretch when he is expelled after being framed for pulling a particularly nasty prank on the whole school. It turns out that the guilty party is Nita, who will turn out to be Tonia’s unlikable and avaricious niece-in-law. Tonia is the only one in the school who believes that he is innocent and tells him so. It is no surprise (but greatly hoped for) when Bay comes back into her life as an adult, never having forgotten her insight and faith in him.

And finally, Nita showing up without warning in Ryddleton to get her to come back to London to ‘share expenses” with her and her mother (Even though Tonia has virtually given the two her London house to live in rent-free). She is shortly followed by one of her trustees wondering why she hasn’t used any of the money that her late husband left her. Nita is horrid as usual, but the trustee proves to be savvy, understanding, and very approving of Tonia’s choices and friends.

As always with D.E.S’s novels written and set during WWII, there is a certain poignancy and intense immediacy about them. They must be read in the context of their times. We should try to forgive the unconscious classism, where the “lower orders” are always happy to serve “their betters.” But we should also respect that when she wrote about rationing and deprivation, the bombing, and getting to know the young American pilots as well as the British ones, she didn’t know, despite the bravery and optimism, what the future outcome of the war would be. The book has a “happy ending” but it is a shaky one. Yes, Tonia marries her squadron leader, but is another tragedy looming in her future? As the readers of 1944 closed the book, I’m sure they thought, “Well, I hope they will be OK.”

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Musical Chairs

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by Amy Poeppel

Early in this “slice of life” novel, I said to myself, “Are we supposed to like these people?” Because I think we were! Our main character, Bridget, though very wealthy and elite, was letting her summer cottage fall down around her ears, and wore stretched-out sweatpants when going visiting in public. It struck me as something that only a rich privileged person would feel OK doing. As if, along with her deliberate ignorance of internet-based technology, she was trying to cultivate a phony “Look how normal and down-to-earth I am!” reputation. It really put my back up. Later we learn why she is like she is and I felt better about her.

Bridget was not a messy person by nature. She was clean, and she had good taste. But she had a blind spot when it came to seeing when change was needed. When a lightbulb burned out, it stayed burned out. When a window latch broke, it stayed broken. Screens stayed torn; floors stayed damaged. She was sentimental, keeping T-shirts for decades, regardless of their condition, and driving the same car she’d gotten when the kids were born, convinced it would have its feelings hurt if she sold it. Marge was no therapist, but it was clear that losing a mother to cancer at only eleven, the greatest, most difficult loss imaginable, had left Bridget wanting to keep everything in her life steady. The same house, the same job, the same music partner.

I wonder why she didn’t think her house had feeling too. And I had the same mixed feelings about her best friend Will, her adult children, her sister, and her father, all of whom we spend a great deal of time with. Also, Gavin, another main character but separate from the family. There were a lot of characters in this book, and all were interesting and well-drawn. But the more I got to know the main ones, the more I found to disapprove of. They, most of them, were essentially all good people at heart, which I recognized. But I was still irritated. I guess that’s a compliment to Amy Poeppel’s writing and her deft true-to-life characterizations. The core group ended up growing and changing for the better and by the end, I wished them well in their, thankfully, new directions. But thank goodness for Marge, the housekeeper, Kevin the handyman, and to a lesser extent, Jackie, her father’s new P.A. (although she was a bit prissy about the cats drinking out of the faucet.)

This book, like the previous two I have read by this author, is centered around first-world problems. But for some reason, this did not bother me in those. In fact, I enjoyed that aspect. It seemed like there were more important things at stake and their problems and dramas were not entirely of their own making. And they did things about them.

I was entertained by this book. There was humor, a little drama, a little suspense, a little romance, and I loved the ending. Everything came together nicely.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Indiscretion

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by Jude Morgan

The family had long been prosperously settled in Huntingdonshire. If they were notable at all, it was for a habit of not distinguishing themselves; and as no firmer warrant for respectability could be imagined, they continued to enjoy the widespread esteem of their acquaintance, to be buried with due formality in the vault at Wythorpe church when they died, and to be absolutely forgotten straight afterwards.

Caroline did not lack for partners in the succeeding dances, and one flushed young man who had drunk too much wine repeatedly informed her, with more gallantry than exactitude, that she was a magnificent Tigress. It was partly to escape the attentions of this zoological gentleman that she withdrew to the card room.

This definitely started off slowly and it took me some time to get reconciled to the idiosyncrasies of the writing. Obviously influenced by Georgette Heyer’s incorporation of the dialect and words of the era, it seemed a little try-hard.

Mrs Catling’s personal maid— a little pinched comfit-chewer with a look of settled, not to say lifelong discontent.

It took me a bit to get used to the cadences and the wordsmithing, but once I did, I appreciated the quality of the writing, for sure.

Mr Leabrook seemed to find nothing in her silence or awkward looks to disconcert him, however; and proceeded in his soft yet precise voice, like the purposeful padding of cat’s feet.

He still tended to speak too partially of his own feelings, and to suppose that his idiosyncrasies were of necessity interesting; whereas she could not be convinced, even by ever so emphatic a manner, that a violent dislike of onion-sauce called for any special comment, still less admiration. But he was sincere and well-meaning, of that she was sure; and she felt for his difficult situation. Indeed, it was this that made Caroline his partisan.

He was one of the few men she had seen who suited the fashionable Windswept style that his thick black hair was dressed in— perhaps because he seemed always caught in a gust of emotion.

He never uses a common word when a more obscure one will do, but that didn’t bother me and my vocabulary appreciated it.

We follow in our 20-year-old heroine Caroline Fortune’s wake as she navigates through three distinct spheres of the Regency World, always doing so with grace, humor, kindness, and common sense. We first meet her as the loving but frustrated sole companion of her father and living in a seedy section of London. They are devoted to each other but are destitute thanks to her handsome father’s irresponsibility with what little income they have from his military pension. Her mother is eight years dead. She came from a respectable and well-off family but was disowned when she followed her heart and married Captain Fortune, itinerant actor, and former military man.

One step ahead of Debtor’s Prison and desperate to save his daughter, Captain Fortune secures a paid position for her as the companion to the widow of his old Colonel, Mrs. Catling, an old battleaxe if ever there was one. He escapes to Bath as Caroline settles in Brighton with her new employer. She meets and becomes friendly with Mrs. Catling’s niece and nephew who visit her frequently and are dependent on her financially to maintain their semi-fashionable lifestyle. She also becomes friendly with their friend, Mr. Leabrook, a handsome and smooth wealthy landowner who shows every indication of admiring Caroline very much. Unfortunately, he eventually proves to be not the paragon he first appears to be. Our heroine rubs along very well thanks to her composure in dealing with Mrs. Catling’s ways. Her situation changes once again about a third of the way through the book when she receives word of her father’s reconciliation with her late mother’s sister and her husband but also his unfortunate sudden demise. When Mrs. Catling refuses to allow her time off to attend her father’s funeral, she quits, and we follow her to the third and last stop on her journey: her life with her loving Aunt and Uncle in the country parish where he is the rector. It is at this point that the book really picked up for me. It was just such a relief to have the deserving Caroline find a safe haven.

She had moved amongst many circles in her life, some clever, some stupid, some moneyed, some threadbare, but all more or less sophisticated, and not inclined to expect much virtue in others, or to cultivate it in themselves. It came as a revelation, not quite commensurate with the proven existence of the fairies, but almost as charming and bewildering, that all the time there had been this other race of beings: kind, gentle, reliable, unworldly.

It is there that she meets and becomes close to the aristocratic Milner family particularly Isabella, of her own age, who becomes her good friend. Besides Isabella’s bossy and abrasive stepmother and her Navy Captain cousin, that household also includes Isabelle’s free-thinking and unconventional younger sister Fanny and her eccentric brother Stephen who would rather be exploring archaeological sites than staying home tending to his business there. To Caroline’s dismay, she also learns that Isabella’s oft-spoken-of but temporarily absent-from-home fiance is none other than the morally suspect Mr. Leabrook.

The book is dense with intrigues and subplots, but the main strength of this book is the characterizations. All of those who revolve around Caroline were extremely well drawn with many layers and complexities and amusingly described.


She was a garrulous woman who had long been listened to with rather too much indulgence, and who was a little too inclined to consider herself a Character, on no greater evidence than a continual compulsion to talk about herself, and some large rings.

Many turned out to be quite different from what they at first seemed. Mrs. Catling first came across as a prototypical curmudgeonly old dragon: tough and demanding but admirable in her own way. By the end of our time with her she has proven to be just nasty and mean.

As to why Mrs Catling should play this unpleasant game, perhaps no further reason needed to be sought than that it gave her pleasure to meddle, mar, and hurt: this human propensity not being so uncommon as ever to excite surprise when detected.

Two of the characters owe a good bit to Jane Austen’s Colonel Brandon and Lydia Bennett. But they don’t start out that way. Another character starts out to be very unsympathetic and cold but proves her mettle when the chips are down.
The character of the hero surprisingly was a problem for me. He was obviously intelligent, even intellectual, yet his conversation, particularly with Caroline was often silly and prattling with no purpose other than to amuse himself and call attention to his “wit” and famous quirkiness. But then, perhaps he was nervous around her? Even our heroine has to tell him to just shut up at one point near the end despite her love for him and their mutually enjoyable banter.

I definitely recommend this book to those who have read and re-read Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer, but crave some fresh delights. But a modicum of patience might be required and a few weaknesses overlooked. Lord, I guess a bit of Jude Morgan has rubbed off on me.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.


Someone Else’s Shoes

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By Jojo Moyes

She steps forward and makes to touch Nisha’s arm. Nisha immediately snaps it away. She does not like to be touched at the best of times, least of all by someone showing visible sympathy.

Nisha nods, dumbly. Jasmine stops and reaches into her bag. Nisha stares at her. She does not want to take money from this woman, with her catalog-quality jacket and cheap trainers. She does not want to think of herself as poorer than this.

Sam knows that if she stays at home she will either have to sit with Phil in the dead-aired, enervating living room, or start one of the 148 tasks that need doing in the house that everyone else seems to believe are her responsibility. If she does this, she will be seething, her rage barely suppressed, within minutes. And then she will hate herself for it, because depression is no one’s fault.

I’ve been curious to read a “#1 New York Times best-selling author of Me Before You Jojo Moyes,” novel as her women’s fiction is so popular and lauded. But none of the descriptions of her books appealed to me until this one, In Someone Else’s Shoes. Certainly not Me Before You where the hero (spoiler alert LOL) commits suicide in the end. Nope, not for me. Anyway, This one seemed right up my alley.

The book concerns two women whose personalities and lives are as different as night and day but whose fates collide when their two gym bags are exchanged by accident. Nisha, an American, has lived a life of wealth and privilege married to Carl for the last 18 years. It all comes to an abrupt halt on the day she loses her gym bag containing her custom-made Christian Louboutin shoes. On that same day, she suddenly learns her husband is divorcing her. He has ruthlessly locked her out of her penthouse, cut off her credit cards, and basically leaves her to fend for herself on the streets of London with no money, friends, or any other resources other than her wits. The Louboutin shoes are now in the hands of Sam, a low-level account manager for a marketing firm. She is basically a willing drudge and doormat whose boss bullies her unmercifully. Her husband Phil suffers from clinical depression brought on by the death of his father and subsequent job loss. He is totally useless and I unsympathetically hated him almost to the end. Sorry. These are two very unhappy women. And no, neither one of them is very likable at the beginning of their stories. But I’m used to reading about the hard journeys of women who start out as one thing and end up as another. And I had read enough about this book to know they both triumph in the end, become better people and all of their enemies get their comeuppances. But boy, those journeys were hard indeed. Even though it is funny and fascinating and we eventually can’t help but root for them, there was very little light to be had at the end of the tunnel. At times, there wasn’t even a tunnel. But friends (a new concept for Nisha) start appearing and much of the joy and reward of this book comes when the two women and their loyal entourages meet and start to work together to get Nisha her “settlement” and reunite her with her beloved but fragile son stuck in a boarding school in New York. Their mission strangely rests on those red Christian Louboutins. Of course, along the way, Sam also finds her power (sometimes in spite of herself, frustratingly). Will justice be had as well?

It would have been fine with me if some of the sufferings, which got to be a little old and repetitive, would have been cut down a bit. And yes there is at least one big and baffling lapse in the plot. But I can’t be too hard on Nisha for forgetting about that certain something when I forgot about it right with her. And I’m glad Sam was happy at the end but I don’t think I could have gotten over such struggles so quickly. I thought I was looking at a 4-star book all things considered (No surprise, it is very well written). Until the end. The resolution was so twisty, so clever, so satisfying, so complete, and so intricately and perfectly done that I have to give the book 5 stars. I was also moved to tears at Nisha’s reunion with her son. I will take another look at some of Moyes’s books because of this one. Not Me Before You though. No Way.

Rating: 5 out of 5.