‘The Fair Miss Fortune’ is a light and entertaining read involving a host of lively characters, who tell their story against the backdrop of a quaint English village.

The story starts with the arrival of young Miss Jane Fortune to the small, sleepy village of Dingleford, replete with village green, one village shop which sells anything and everything, a postmaster who knows exactly what’s going on in every household and the village Inn, the Cat and Fiddle, where the locals catch up on the latest happenings.

Captain Charles Weatherby has also returned to the village on leave from his service in India and in the first chapter, we see him attending a housewarming party hosted by Mrs Prescott and her son Harold. Harold is a childhood friend and the people at the party are all people Charles has known since he was a child. Nevertheless, Charles feels intimated at the prospect of meeting so many people again after a long time and hovers on the doorstep listening to the sounds coming from indoors.

“The sound grew louder as he approached until it resembled the din which emanates from the monkey house at the Zoo, but Charles was well aware that it was neither bees nor monkeys but merely the Prescotts’ house-warming sherry-party in full swing.”

Charles is welcomed into the house by his childhood friend Harold Prestcott and in no time at all becomes a part of the humming conversation.

The Prescotts have sold their old Elizabethan cottage, Dingleford Cottage and have moved to a much more modern home due to the building of ‘The Road’ – a major arterial road connecting two large towns and cutting through southern parts of the village of Dingleford. The new owner of Dingleford Cottage – the young Miss Jane Fortune, hopes to set up a tea shop at the back of Dingleford Cottage and thus profit from the influx of traffic plying through ‘the Road’.

As happens in a small village, a newcomer incites a great deal of curiosity and one by one, the inhabitants of the village visit Miss Fortune. They find a very pretty young girl with fair hair and pleasant personality and she finds herself the centre of attention of many of the village bachelors – including Charles Weatherby and Harold Prescott.

The situation becomes quite muddled though when Jane Fortune’s twin sister arrives on the scene, pursued by an angry Frenchman. The story is indeed a comedy of errors and the tangle of mistaken identity makes for a diverting read.

Some of my favourite scenes from the book involve the mending of a cistern, a brawl at the Inn and scenes from a dance at the Golf Club.

This is definitely one of Stevenson’s lighter books. I loved the setting of the book and the witty writing. ‘The Fair Miss Fortune’ is a good comfort read when you are in the mood for something light and funny.

I was sent an e-book of ‘The Fair Miss Fortune’ by DE Stevenson for review by the publisher Dean Street Press but all opinions about the book are my own.