This is probably the most fantastic book I've read in months. First - Stella Gibbons!!!! Of Cold Comfort Farm fame!!!! I loved her then, and this one is even worries if such is possible.
A wonderful spoof of Sense and Sensibility, in a way, the story abounds with wistful heroines, inappropriate romances, and hounds. It's absolutely hilarious and everyone should read it. It made me laugh out loud on a crowded plane carrying a chihuahua that barked incessantly, and that's saying something. ( )

Viola Wither es una chica encantadora y no muy avispada que se casa con un hombre con posibles al que no ama realmente. Cuando su marido fallece, Viola se queda en la más absoluta miseria, por lo que no tendrá más remedio que vivir con su familia política en The Eagles, una casa en la que todo es tristeza y oscuridad. El señor Wither es un hombre tacaño y gris. La señora Wither la ignora desde el principio y sus dos cuñadas, Tina y Madge, piensan demasiado en sí mismas como para ocuparse de ella. Por fortuna, siempre existirán las fiestas benéficas y la posibilidad de cruzarse en ellas con Victor Spring, el ídolo local, un hombre rico y algo superficial con el que todas las mujeres sueñan en silencio. Stella Gibbons, autora de «,La hija de Robert Poste»,, nos vuelve a deleitar con una comedia llena de agudeza, ternura e ingenio, en la que no faltan las largas fiestas estivales, los amores cruzados, las huidas, los giros repentinos, los amantes de la poesía y un bosque en el que los encuentros y los desencuentros ocurren siempre de noche.

1930s chick-lit, I suppose. Do not expect to find anything of Robert Poste's child in the heroine, Viola, and, apart from the beastly Hermit, who would have fitted in quite well around the Starkadders, the characters are middle-class stereotypes. I liked the way Mr Wither, paterfamilias to the fearfully dull household into which Viola is thrust after the untimely death of her young husband, regards his money, seeing it as an individual with uncertain health, sometimes robust and then taking a turn for the worse. We are shown the various ways in which young women made their way in life in middle-class inter-war years Britain. Maybe finding a comfortably off husband, maybe espousing sex, left-wing ideology and 'Art' and having a somewhat uncomfortable time, or else extending their childhood by going on living with Mummy and Daddy.


It is intriguing that the good-looking chauffeur (a Seth character??) who inherits a huge fortune simply by being agreeable towards his employer carries what is, for him, a huge social burden by being regarded by all and sundry to have been the old bachelor's catamite. The book is generous to its characters in that almost everyone gets, if not exactly what they desire, at least their just deserts. ( )

Very slow beginning, until the Infernal Ball happens, then the story starts to pick up. A rather dark take on Cinderella, with some very wry reflections on life and love. ( )

Not as awesome as Cold Comfort Farm (then again, what is?), but this semi-Cinderella story is still a very enjoyable read. I did, however, find myself getting a little annoyed with the protagonists of this tale, Viola and Victor. His character is completely deplorable at first; hers is reminiscent of a wet dishrag. But, they grow and change for the better, thank goodness, and the ending is a satisfying one :) ( )