D. E. Stevenson

Sarah’s Cottage

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By D. E. Stevenson

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This was a perfectly enjoyable DES which pretty much picks up where Sarah Morris Remembers leaves off. Sarah and Charles are married and have built a cottage near Sarah’s grandparents on some land that they gifted to them.  I listened to this on Audible and the new narrator made the choice of losing Charles’ Austrian accent which was so much a part of his personality in “Remembers.” Sarah’s father who was so important in the preceding book stays in London and is very much on the back burner which was A-OK with me. At the end of Sarah Morris Remembers, the good vicar made me very angry by discounting Sarah’s frantic and confused insistence that she had seen her beloved Charles whom she feared dead. No matter how passionately she tried to convince him, he refused to believe her, which added to her pain and confusion. After Charles and Sarah are reunited at her grandparents house in Scotland (where she was sent to basically recover her sanity), I thought it was pretty significant that her father was not included in the joy of their reunion, nor even told, at least on the page, of Charles’ miraculous return.

A lot happens in this book, which spans, as near as I can make out, around 13 years. But there are two main plot threads. Sarah and Charles take Lottie and Clive’s neglected child, Freddy, under their wing. Lottie never wanted her (in SMR she wanted an abortion!) and treats her accordingly–only concerned with her own pleasure-seeking. Her father is not a bad man but  a non-entity in his daughters’ life whose only concern is running his business. Sarah and Charles only see Freddy  on some holiday breaks from her boarding school (Saint Elizabeth’s of Charlotte Fairlie!), but it is enough to guide her, give her safety, security, and what she most needs, love. A lot happens with Freddy, including her transformation from an ugly duckling to a swan and her almost falling victim to a cad and a fortune hunter.

The second is Charles becoming obsessed with writing a fictionalized account of his life. It totally takes over his life for about 6 months  and frankly he behaves like an asshole, neglecting and ignoring Sarah. To my relief, although she is vexed and frustrated, Sarah makes the best of it by developing friendships and having an adventure or two on her own. One of the friendships that she develops is with Deb and Mark of Celia’s House. And Celia herself to a lesser extent. Their children becomes Freddy’s playmates when she can come to them at Craignethan. (Although the title of this book is Sarah’s Cottage, The final almost half of the book is set at her grandparents’ large home, the cottage largely forgotten). Once his manuscript is finished, Charles gets back to normal (the book was basically therapy for his difficult life in Austria). But once he got everything out on the page, he refuses to have anything to do with it, giving it to Sarah. “ Do what you like with the wretched thing—burn it if you like!” What she does with it forms another satisfying story line.

Sarah didn’t always do or act the way I wanted her to. At times she came across as a little, as the British say, “wet.” She often excuses Lottie’s destructive and manipulative behavior and the harm she is doing to Freddy. There was a lack of insight and urgency to act. After 18 year old Freddy finally lays all of Lottie’s cruelties over the years on the line, and explains to Sarah why she wants nothing more to do with her mother, it’s “Oh Freddie, she does love you! I know she seems neglectful but that’s just her way. She cares for you, darling.” Uh No, Sarah, she does not. Honestly, I wanted to throttle her.  Freddy recounts even more horror stories, and finally Sarah gets it. I wanted a more dramatic and cathartic resolution, but in the end Sarah and Charles acted with wisdom and restraint in regards to Freddy. 

All in all this was almost equal to Sarah Morris Remembers. Sarah and Charles rarely disappointed me. I often feared how they would react to certain challenges, but if they let me down, it was only briefly and they always did the right thing in the end. It was quite episodic and I was often confused as far as the timeline. Sarah’s never having any dearly wanted children was never addressed sufficiently.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Sarah Morris Remembers

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By D. E. Stevenson

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Although I did anticipate enjoying this very much, the real reason why I chose this one, in the still many Stevenson titles I have left to read, is that it leads up to Sarah’s Cottage, one I have reason to believe might be a favorite. Fingers crossed.

Sarah Morris Remembers traces our heroine’s life as a child growing up with her loving parents, her two brothers, and a younger sister in their country vicarage home. It starts some years prior to WWII and takes us through the end of the war and Sarah’s reunion, after their separation, with the love of her life. We see her family and the world through her eyes as she is writing down her memories with help from her diaries.

When I started this story of my life I unpacked the diaries which I had kept in a large tin box and, as I turned over the pages, all sorts of things came back to me – things I had forgotten – and I realised I had plenty of material for a family chronicle. I had intended to write the story to amuse the family but I hadn’t got very far before I saw that I was faced with a difficult choice: either I could write a story about the family, suitable for the family to read, or else I could write a true story about everything that had happened to us all.…I saw quite clearly that the story would be no good unless it was true in every detail. I would write it for myself, for my own satisfaction; no eye but mine should ever see it and perhaps when I had finished it I should be able to see some sort of pattern in my life.

Although not a beauty like her kind and gentle mother and her little sister, Sarah is smart and spirited. And, nurtured by her parents, she has a very highly developed sense of morality. She is a very good girl. Sometimes a little too good to my liking, to be honest. But that is true of all DES heroes and heroines. It’s part of their charm and the comfort and joy of the books. Sarah, at least, is spunky and sensible to the last page. She and her siblings have an idyllic childhood: Lewis, the oldest, is handsome, smart, and their parents’ fair haired boy. Willie, like Sarah, is a bit of a rebel, and her little sister Lottie is pretty like a little doll and cossetted as the baby of the family. As the children grow up, Lottie becomes friends with a wealthy schoolmate whose family has her for weekends and vacations and she ends up more influenced by them than her own family. Although Lewis has a hankering to choose a military career, he complies with his mother and father’s wishes (especially his mother) and goes to Oxford. Willie and Sarah stand up against their well-meaning parents and fight for and follow their own dreams. One day, when Sarah is a young teen, Lewis brings home a good friend, Charles, who is Austrian. Although nothing untoward happens or is even hinted at, Sarah is drawn to him and, though he is 5 years older (possibly more), it is mutual. WWII is still a few years away, but Hitler is on the rise. We follow Sarah as she makes her way through her teens, while keeping tabs on the rest of her family and their highs and lows.

Sarah and Charles’ connection eventually leads to an engagement, but before they can be married Charles must come to the rescue of his noble and wealthy Austrian family who are threatened by the Nazis. He mysteriously and alarmingly disappears. Sarah bravely carries on with her father in war torn London, doing their bit, while waiting for her beloved Charles to return to her (hopefully).

This Stevenson is very romance-forward even though Charles and Sarah are separated throughout much of the book. Their love and passion (yes, passion in a D.E Stevenson!) are consummated before Charles leaves for Austria albeit with the belief he will return in a few weeks in time for their wedding. That has got to be a first for DES, and I thought it was worth mentioning. True to her original intent, Sarah tells the truth regardless of the foibles and weaknesses of herself, her parents, her brothers, and especially Lottie (Hoo Boy!). Even Charles comes across as a bit of an ass in one part, even though Sarah worships the ground he walks on. And Sarah rarely let me down.

Of course, because this is D.E.S., we spend some time in Scotland where her grandparents live near good ol’ Ryddelton. And yes, a certain ghostly carriage can sometimes be heard by certain people on certain nights. I’m hovering between 4 and 5 stars, so I’ll go with 4 1/2, leaving some room in case I like Sarah’s Cottage even more.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Celia’s House

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By D. E. Stevenson

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Of all of the D.E. Stevensons I have read, this one is right up there. I almost didn’t choose this book to listen to. I usually wait 4 or 5 months between Stevensons and I had just read one last month. But I knew I didn’t want to read another contemporary romantic comedy because the last one I read was so good, nothing else could measure up. I was still on hold for the scary book of my choice at the library and I had just read a domestic thriller and a Georgette Heyer. And some books I just like to read the words, not listen to them.

This one is a little different from most Stevensons because it moves through the years and the stories of various members of the Dunne family. We start in 1905 with Celia Dunne, in her 90s, who has decided not to bequeath her home and estate to the childless (and insufferable) son of her oldest brother who has every expectation of inheriting. Instead, she has settled on a more distant connection, her great nephew, Humphrey, who is a struggling Lieutenant Commander in the Navy with a young and growing family. She leaves her estate to the astounded and confused Humphrey on the condition that Dunnian will eventually go, not to his oldest son, Mark, but, extraordinarily, to a daughter, yet to be born, whom he will name Celia.

Humphrey is a good and loving father although we are told he does not have a sense of humor. His wife Alice is beautiful and sweet but is not too bright (as we see evidence of throughout their story.) We soon realize that the main focus of the story will be their oldest son Mark whom we first meet when he is 5 1/2. We spend a good deal of time with the growing family. Humphrey and Alice add a son, Billy and, sure enough, a daughter, Celia, to their brood. They also take on the care of a cousin, Deb, who comes to live with them when her disinterested mother remarries and moves to India. Unlike her cousins, she is plain and shy. As the children grow to adulthood the Dunne’s story starts to mirror Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park. Deb is devoted to Mark, and Mark is in love with a scheming and manipulative neighbor. Eventually Deb, who eventually blossoms, is pursued by her brother, a bit of a rake. Other parallels emerge with other members of the family. But curiously, we see little of the youngest daughter, Celia, except for a few anecdotes that show that she is an unusual child: lovable, spirited, and with a mind of her own. Rather like her namesake, as a matter of a fact. Sprinkled throughout are some mysterious coincidences and ghostly sightings which hint of a guiding hand from beyond. After Deb and Mark’s fate is settled, we skip ahead to 1932, where we get a another peek at Celia, in her early 20s. She is still uninterested in marriage. She is waiting. When she was 13, we had learned that she didn’t care to get married unless it was to someone “quite different”: Someone like Lochinvar “out of the west.” Quickly, we skip ahead 10 years to 1942. Mark and Billy are doing their bit in the war, while still unattached Celia and newly pregnant Deb are keeping the home fires burning with retired Admiral Humphrey, now in his 70s. There is only one chapter to go. How Celia finally meets “the one” in that last chapter moved me to tears.

I had read the follow up to this one, The Listening Valley before Celia’s House, and that was probably a good thing. Had I read it first, I would have been so anxious to learn more about what became of Celia and Dunnian, that I wouldn’t have been able to concentrate on the first half of our heroine, Tonia’s, story. She does not land in Ryddelton, where Dunnian house is located, until midway through the book. In The Listening Valley, we also are filled in more about the original Celia’s younger years and the ties that bind her to her young namesake’s love story. To anyone interested in trying D.E. Stevenson, you couldn’t do better than Celia’s House, followed by The Listening Valley.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

The Tall Stranger

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By D.E. Stevenson

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**Spoilers**

This was a delight from beginning to end. In addition, the narrator, Candida Gubbins, was terrific. I enjoy D.E. Stevenson’s books greatly but often with reservations. Sometimes her abrupt endings are a little too abrupt leaving loose ends untied. She often avoids drama like it is something to be ashamed of, so that the most interesting and looked for scenes happen off stage. Her heroines are too often too obtuse, passive, or too averse to pursuing their own happiness or doing what needs to be done for their own good. Sometimes to the point that they cause others to suffer along with them (until it all comes right in the end, of course.) Not so with this one!

Our heroine, Barbie France, has been very ill and has been hospitalized, but is getting worse, not better. Her good friend and roommate, Nell, decides that the atmosphere in London, and lack of peace in the hospital is to blame for her friend’s depression, and maneuvers matters with the help of her doctor/boss to get her to Barbie’s loving aunt at her country home, Underwoods, where she can recover. It does the trick, and soon Barbie is fully recovered under the loving care of her Aunt Amelie and her companion, Penney. Nell has a story too, and there is a secondary romance.
Barbie’s London career as an Interior Decorator (she’s awesome. She loves her job and is great at it) is on hold. While at Underwoods, she attends the wedding of a childhood playmate, and meets a tall stranger at the reception. They are immediately drawn to each other and Barbie invites him to tea the next day. Strangely, he stands her up, and Barbie is very angry and wonders why she feels so upset by such a relatively unimportant snub by someone she hardly knows. Meanwhile, Edward Steyne, Aunt Amalie’s beloved stepson, and her childhood friend appears on the scene. Edward is a charmer and a gadabout. Aunt Amalie seems relieved that he appears to finally be settling down to a respectable job in the city. It’s not long before Edward proposes marriage and Barbie accepts. Partly because she and Edward have always been fond of each other, partly because she thinks it would make Aunt Amalie happy, and partly because Aunt Amalie has told her that her late husband was very insistent that Barbie inherit Underwoods upon her death, not his own son, Edward, and she feels bad about that. Also, why did he want his beloved Underwoods in his nieces hands rather than his own son?

The reader has already picked up on some clues as to Edward’s true character and on the way back to London, Edward unintentionally reveals his true self to Barbie. To my amazement, having been disappointed too often in the past with Stevenson’s heroines, Barbie acts decisively and doesn’t back down. I was thrilled.

We spend some time back in London where we meet up with Nell again, get to know a bedraggled little 8 year old and her floozy mother, and see Barbie settling back into her career in London. It will not be a surprise to anyone even vaguely familiar with D.E. Stevenson’s novels that Barbie is sent to a Scottish castle on a decorating job. It will also not be a surprise that the Wedding Guy just happens to be visiting his sister, Barbie’s client, there. Yes he is her destiny. Henry is just as nice and upstanding as he was at the Wedding, and when he explains what happened to cause him to ghost her, Barbie is even more disgusted with Edward. I had some concerns about Henry when he tried to rush her into a quick marriage. He started to seem as wheedling and manipulative as Edward was except he had a good heart and really loved her. But that impression was put to rest when he was happy for Barbie to continue her career even after marriage. Also, Barbie had already proven her strong-mindedness and steely character. It was no surprise that her common sense and caution prevailed.

It all comes together in a very satisfactory conclusion. The mistreated little London child even gets a happy ending and Edward’s true character is exposed to all who matter. Unfortunately, that includes Aunt Amalie and I was saddened by her sorrow and disappointment. **4 1/2 stars**

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Fletcher’s End

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By D.E. Stevenson

This was another pleasant and enjoyable D. E. Stevenson that takes you to another world where not much happens. And that’s OK when there are so many other joys to be found. I listened to this on Audible, so I will have to rely on my main impressions. The book opens with Bel (from Bel Lamington) about to be married to Ellis Brownlee. Her dear friend Louise is trying to find her a house near her and her father in The Cotswolds. She happens upon Fletcher’s End, a dilapidated 400-year-old stone “cottage” that has gone to rack and ruin from neglect. Bel falls in love with it and Ellis buys it for her from the absentee owner, Roy Lestrange, a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy. With Bel safely married, we know that one of the main plot lines is going to be about finding the beautiful and vivacious Louise, whom all men fall in love with instantly, a husband. Will it be Andrew Drummond whom she turned down in the previous book because of her disrespect for his lazy self-indulgent ways? Or Reggie, the likable but plain architect the Brownlees hire to restore their cottage? Or perhaps the mysterious Roy Lestrange, whom the executor of his Aunt’s will calls a “rapscallion” due to his neglect of Fletchers End?

The book concerns itself mostly with painting a picture of the old house, its rebirth, Bel and Ellis’s happy marriage, and meeting the Brownlee’s new friends and neighbors and hearing their stories. Events do happen in the narrative which reveal true character, present dilemmas, amuse, or create heartache or joy, or disgust or satisfaction. They build on each other to create somewhat of a storyline. But what would be boring blips in more action-packed tightly plotted stories, take on importance and significance in this novel. I cared about these people and was interested in every little thing. At Bel’s wedding reception, we see Bel finally coming out of her shell and gaining new confidence. Finally! When Louise and Bel go to London for lunch with Roy Lestrange we meet his mousy cousin who provides some background to Bel’s house and the former owner. We also gain insight into charming Roy’s true character. A beautiful painting of a former owner of Bel’s house is bought for over the mantelpiece and we are enchanted and amused. An old friend’s family business is ruined, his former wealth stolen, and his life is in ruins. We are angry. But the disaster leads to his dream coming true. Bel finally shows her mettle when she is responsible for turning a friend’s heartbreak and despair into joy. And finally, the contents of a secret drawer in an old bureau shakes the newlyweds to their core and causes great fear and a moral crisis.

The book ended with satisfactory closure which I can’t always say about DES novels. We are denied a final joyful scene in which Bel will share happy news with Ellis (not what you think). But in this case, I could well imagine it in my mind as we have gotten to know them so well. I was happy that passive Bel developed some agency and gumption once happily married although she did have a weak moment near the end. I enjoyed this much better than the previous book with Bel. She didn’t make me mad this time. I look forward to spending more time with the Shepherdsford community (and maybe Louise, Bel and Ellis?) in future books.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Bel Lamington

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by D.E. Stevenson

This one was not a favorite. Mainly because I didn’t care for Bel so much. She is timid, shy, conventional, and too self-effacing. Bel’s story is divided into two parts that could be called “City Mouse” and “Country Mouse”. Bel being the Mouse in both the first part and the second part. No growth or change for the better here! I preferred the City Mouse part because interesting things happen. Not that it is action packed, but Bel has some challenges on her job to add suspense and tension and two and a half incipient romances. We suspect one guy will be the one that will win the right to be Bel’s swain caretaker but we are briefly teased with another possibility and a half which turn out to be false leads.

Bel is a girl who comes to London to make her way in life after the aunt who raised her dies and she realizes that she must make a living. Bel has some qualities that I admire. It is these good qualities that earn her a quick promotion from the typing pool to private secretary to the junior partner of the firm, Mr. Brownlee. She is a good girl, hard-working, responsible, capable, and conscientious. Of course, she is also attractive.

She is even intelligent and sensible, except when she’s not. And that is when she lets her mousy qualities override her common sense. One example of this is when she goes on a day’s road trip with False Lead #1 and their car breaks down. It transpires that she won’t be able to get back to London and work the next morning but will have to stay the night at a little inn. She is thrown into such a state of panic that she becomes almost demented with worry and anxiety. She loses her grip to the extent that she prevails on a complete stranger to drive her to London rather than stay at the inn overnight along with the nice, if a little flighty, Mark. Poor Mark is as confused and put out by her behavior as I was. I still don’t know what she was afraid of. In fairness, I did listen to this on Audio, so the actress, Patience Tomlinson, may have made her a little more overwrought in her interpretation than she appeared on the page.


The second big drama is when she is fired by being nice to the son of the founder and head partner of the firm. Mr. Copping’s son is just out of college and he wants to learn about his Dad’s company on an informal basis before he is taken into the business. Bel puts Mr. James Copping to work and they become friendly although Bel being Bel meticulously observes the formalities and protocol. Nevertheless, a bad spin is put on their friendship by the jealous and resentful head of the typing pool and the nut case who has put himself in charge of the business in the temporary absence of the other two partners. (And he literally is a nut case. We learn at the end of the book that he ends up in an Insane Asylum!) Even though she is esteemed and respected by the head honcho, Mr. Copping Senior, as well as by her immediate boss, the temporarily absent Mr. Brownlee, Bel is thrown into despair especially because she doesn’t have a reference! She dwells on her reference-less state the rest of the book although it is no one’s fault but her own. In her anxiety to avoid conflict at all costs, she just gives up and does nothing to save herself by reaching out to her powerful friends and supporters. She drops off the face of the earth as far they are concerned.

But every cloud has a silver lining and because she is now jobless, she is able to accept an invitation to go on vacation with an old school friend, Louise, and her father. This is “The Country Mouse” part. Readers who loved the Dering Family Trilogy (#1, #2, and #3) will be thrilled that the vacation just happens to be in the Drumburly, Scotland area where Mureth is and where James and Rhoda live. Readers of Bel Lamington who haven’t read about James and Rhoda Dering and company might not be as entertained by the change of scene. Rhoda, being the force of nature that she is, takes Bel in hand and by the end, all of Bel’s problems are solved very much in spite of herself.

Now, not all heroines have to be full of spirit and fire. In fact, I like heroines who start out shy and too nice for their own good. But I also like them to develop some backbone and cease to be doormats. Although all turns out for the best for Bel, it is kind of by accident. She has very little agency of her own, and when she does, she comes across as foolishly stubborn. At one point, Rhoda, who pretty much takes over the book as soon as she appears, confides to Bel that at first she thought Bel was a bit “wet” but that she was “mistaken”. I laughed and thought, “I’m not so sure about that, Rhoda.” I gather that in the sequel to Bel Lamington, Fletcher’s End, she comes into her own a bit more. I hope so. I liked Louise, Bel’s friend, and her father, and it looks like they are featured. Also, I hope we hear that Rhoda has thrown out all of her Childcare manuals which were making her a terrible mother. I sure don’t want to hear in a yet to be read Stevenson novel that her two sons have become serial killers.

Rounded up…

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Charlotte Fairlie

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by D.E. Stevenson

Spoilers

As much as I enjoy D.E. Stevenson’s writings, settings, and stories, there is always a little fly in the ointment. For one, most of the time her endings are way too abrupt and often leave an unresolved problem and a lack of closure. I can live with that if it is the first of a trilogy or there is a sequel. She avoids drama like the plague. Exciting and longed-for confrontations and comeuppances often happen behind the scenes and the reader is told about what happened later. And sometimes her heroines do everything in their power to avoid happiness. They make decisions that sacrifice their happiness for the sake of others. Again, this would be OK if the greater good was served by the sacrifice, but often it is based on a lack of self-esteem. Sometimes they are wet noodles and won’t stand up for themselves often to the detriment of others as well as theirselves. This book features three of these plot elements. Thankfully, being a wet noodle is not Charlotte Fairlie’s problem.

We meet our heroine as the new headmistress of an elite girls’ school, St. Elizabeths. Although young for the job, being in her late twenties, she is an Oxford graduate and eminently qualified. She is a former student, who was boarded there when she was thrown out of her beloved father’s life by her new stepmother. Her sad past has only made her strong and empathetic. She proves to be very popular and respected by the staff and students but one long-tenured teacher, Miss Pinkerton, becomes her nemesis. The older woman is wracked with hatred and jealousy towards Charlotte. She feels sure that the longed-for post of headmistress would have been hers but for the young upstart. I loved the way Charlotte navigated all of Miss Pinkerton’s machinations with wisdom, tact, and sense. She won me over completely early in the book when faced with a malignant threat from Miss Pinkerton, she gets out in front of the problem with aplomb. Thus, what could have resulted in scandal and calamity for both her and a young student turned into a powerful friendship with the head of St. Elizabeth’s board of directors and a strong bond with the student.

That unusual young student, Tessa, is a charming and fearless young girl who obviously hero-worships and loves Charlotte. When she invites her headmistress to spend her vacation at Targ, her beloved island home in the highlands of Scotland, Charlotte decides to throw caution to the winds and accepts. She and Tessa’s divorced father, the laird, fall deeply in love with each other. He proposes marriage and here comes the fly in the ointment. She refuses him for a couple of cockamamie reasons when all of her objections could have been easily overcome by some honest communication. It flies in the face of what we have come to know about Charlotte and how she always handles her business. Of course, all ends happily with one of D.E. Stevenson’s trademark rushed endings, but I was still disappointed in Charlotte, whom I had come to trust and admire.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and esteemed Charlotte Fairlie up until the point when she did her darndest to break her own heart and the hearts of the two people who have come to mean the world to her. In addition to the love problems, there is a side story of Tessa’s best friend at school, Donny, and her two brothers. The three siblings are the victims of a toxic parent and their story almost ends in the worst tragedy imaginable. It was shocking.

The large and small joys, dramas, and adventures at the school and on Targ were as involving as I have come to expect from D.E. Stevenson. It is almost magical the way she makes outwardly ordinary characters and their journeys fascinating and gripping. She makes small things seem big. And when big things really do happen it’s jaw-dropping.

Rating: 3.5 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.

Winter and Rough Weather (Shoulder the Sky)

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by D. E. Stevenson

“It must be lonely!” she exclaimed. “Loneliness is inside a person,” replied Sutherland. “It is possible to be lonely in a big city. If a person is contented and has enough work to do he will not feel lonely amongst the hills.

I enjoyed this equally as well as the two preceding novels in the trilogy. There was a lot more suspense and drama than in many of the D.E. Stevensons I have read. In between the evocative descriptions of both people and the land, the thoughtful reflections, and entertaining relationships and conversations, there was actually some action-packed adventure and a little bit dark mystery! Of course, of the bucolic gentle Scottish countryside variety. No crime involved. I loved continuing my acquaintance with Mamie and Jock, and James and Rhoda, and meeting the also interesting characters of Flockie, Rhoda’s housekeeper (can I have a Flockie?), and Dr. Henry Ogylvie Smith. The puzzling Lizzie and her son Duggie have important roles in this. Daughter Greta was regrettably left by the wayside, after a promising introduction in Music in the Hills. The odious Sir Andrew and Nestor Heddle each continue to display their deliciously repellent ways in a scene or two, and both get a measure of justice served to them only if just a bit in one case. Still, it was satisfying, even though with one of them, we are just told about what happened after the fact.

After Rhoda gives up her silly notion that she cannot be both an artist and a wife and starts painting again, she discovers Lizzie’s neglected son, Duggie. She uncovers his artistic talent, intelligence, and spirit and begins to mentor him. Her studio, lovingly wrought by lovely James, becomes his second home. He catches the interest of Dr. Henry Ogylvie Smith who is sitting for his portrait as a gift to his charming parents. We also become reacquainted with his friends, Dr. Adam Forrester and his sister Nan.

The main drama of the book is how these two likable siblings achieve future domestic happiness. Dr. Adam is attracted to a woman who would make him miserable. Of course in D.E.Stevenson’s world, if a man and a woman like, or just get along with each other and they are both single and of a certain age, marriage is expected at least by one of them. Even if they spend very little time together. It is very odd. Thank goodness the object of Adam’s desire tells him that any marriage between them is completely off the table. So in Adam’s case, it is more disaster averted than love found. Nan has been suffering from the rejection of a man she is still in love with. It turns out that nice Dr. Henry, Adam’s former boss who paved the way for Adam to practice in Drumberly is the wicked cad. He and Nan seemed to be well on the way to love and marriage until he mysteriously broke it off. When the truth comes out, it is sad and surprising.

This was not a 5-star read for me. I am really frustrated and even confused by how D.E. Stevenson ends many of her books. Sometimes it seems like it is practically in mid-sentence. This one was the worse yet. Genuinely interesting and greatly anticipated doings of characters we have come to be fond of are never gotten to before the book ends. Oh yes, we have every reason to believe everything will work out happily for all, but we are deprived of seeing how exactly they will tackle and be affected by the “rough weather” ahead. We are robbed of the potentially gripping confrontations, joyful revelations, and other hullabaloo that the characters will have to go through in order for happiness and stability to be achieved.

One of the big keys to the story is a certain connection between two previously unrelated characters. When Dr. Henry tells his story, I just didn’t buy it. **spoiler**  It was just totally outlandish that the attractive, well-off, brilliant, and good man could have ever even looked twice at common, dull, stupid (“mental age of 10”), and not even particularly attractive Lizzie. Her only redeeming quality is that she is a good worker. She is not even interested in her own children. Neither could I believe her lack of agency and action in keeping the truth secret. There was no reason for it and it really detracted from the book’s credibility. **end spoiler**

Once the truth is known we see a way forward for Henry and Nan to find happiness at last. Maybe. If everything goes according to plan. But the book is cut off before that is achieved. And unfortunately, this is the last of the trilogy. So no hope of getting a bit of closure in the next book. Because there isn’t one. Would have loved to know more about a certain engagement revealed near the end, as well. Not to mention…but enough.
Up to the ending, or lack thereof, it was shaping up to be my favorite so far. In Vittoria Cottage, Robert Shepperton ponders leaving his tragic past behind him to find love and happiness again in the here and now.

We don’t stand still, thought Robert. We are travellers upon the path of life. No traveller can bathe twice in the same stream. He bathes and goes on his way and, if the road is dusty and hot, he may look back longingly and think of the clear cool water with regret … but presently he may come upon another stream, different of course, but equally delightful to bathe in.”

The author lets the reader experience the cool clear stream and the hot dusty road with her characters. But she leaves us behind too soon when they go on their way and hopefully come to another stream to bathe in. I wish she’d give as much attention to her endings as she so beautifully does to everything that precedes them.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Music in the Hills (Dering Family #2)

/ Rebekahrox / 1 Comment

by D. E. Stevenson

The view down the valley was wide and free; the winding river, the rounded, rolling hills. The air sparkled so that it was a positive joy to breathe . . . and over the whole place there was a stillness, a peaceful sort of feeling; it was like the feeling one has when the words of a benediction have been uttered and have died away.

Rhoda had quite a good brain (and knew it), but even she found the sermon “a bit stiff,” for Mr. Sim’s theme was the ethical interpretations of history and the varying interactions of the temporal and spiritual powers. As Rhoda looked round at her fellow-worshippers she could not help wondering whether they were taking it all in or whether their rapt expressions were due to pre-occupation with domestic affairs.

“So, Becky, What are you reading?”
“Music in the Hills by D.E. Stevenson.”
“What’s it about?”
“It’s about a young Englishman, disappointed in love, who goes to Scotland and learns to be a sheep farmer. In the 1950’s”
“Oh.”

Whenever I finish a D.E. Stevenson novel, half the time, it seems like I am declaring it the best I have read yet. Music in the Hills is the second in a trilogy begun with Vittoria Cottage, and it has supplanted Katherine Wentworth as my favorite so far (other than the Miss Buncle books). After proposing to Rhoda, the strong-minded and captivating artist we met briefly in the first book, and being turned down, James Dering, the beloved son of Caroline, the heroine of Vittoria Cottage, goes to live with her sister and her husband’s Scottish estate and sheep farm, Mureth. He has his mind and heart set on being a farmer after being stationed in Malaya during the war. James is one of D.E. Stevenson’s strong, upstanding, handsome, and kind heroes. He was lovely, although on at least two occasions I wanted to slap him silly.

We meet lots of interesting characters at Mureth and the environs. The main characters, self-deprecating, vague, but wise Mamie, strong and straight Jock, pretty vivacious Holly, fairy-like Eleanor, Daniel the shepherd, and community and duty-obsessed Lady Shaw, would all take pages or at least paragraphs to describe satisfactorily. Even the ones who put in the briefest of appearances have something distinctive about them for good or bad. The ones we are meant to scorn, I disliked intensely (narcissistic bully Sir Andrew, Lady Shaw’s husband, and the self-important entitled Londoner who buys a neighboring estate. He doesn’t understand his house, the people, or the land and doesn’t care to.)

There are quite a few plot threads to keep things interesting. Lady Shaw’s conniving niece Holly’s pursuit of James, for one. We know she is not right for him right away.

You don’t *like* London do you?”
“No, of course not. I’m really a country person.” She did not look like a country person. Even James, who knew very little about women’s clothes, had a feeling that Holly’s green frock was a town rather than a country garment and her shoes had been made to walk upon London pavements rather than in country lanes. He took her hand to help her down the uneven steps.

It takes James, naive in the ways and wiles of women quite some time for the light to fully dawn. We fear for him. When the vibrant unconventional Rhoda tears up on her motorcycle and knocks on Mureth’s door, we breathe a sigh of relief. We also fear for Eleanor, Lady Shaw’s young daughter. Though surrounded by family, she is virtually alone in the world with her books, dreaming her life away. James takes to her immediately and enlists reluctant Mamie to help rescue her. What will happen when sweet and timid Mamie gets up the gall to talk to the self-important human steamroller who is Lady Shaw about her parenting? I was on the edge of my seat. Meanwhile, someone is rustling the Mureth sheep. Suspicion falls on a likable character we know has got to be innocent. What is going on? James gets on the bad side of the powerful new neighbor who unbelievably shoots at a sheepdog. When he throws a citified party to introduce himself to his country neighbors, danger lurks everywhere. By the end, the good and strong are set apart from the bad or weak. Then we have the petty feuds and rivalries, Lizzie the housekeeper and her detachment from her children, the gossip, a country party that almost leads to disaster, stalking sheep rustlers, hunting, fishing, and traipsing through the hills. I for sure started to cringe at the direction the James and Eleanor relationship seemed to be briefly going, but it didn’t. What was he thinking?

Despite the fact that I had another book waiting to be read, I had to pivot and go right on to the sequel, Winter and Rough Weather. It was too soon to leave the world of Mureth and its people. I had to keep accompanying them on their journeys for a little while longer. I hope we see Eleanor completely sorted in book #3.

Rating: 5 out of 5.