Miss Buncle Married by D.E. Stevenson – #1936club

April 18, 2021May 14, 2021 / Bag Full of Books / 8 Comments

I am reviewing this book as part of the #1936club, initiated by Simon David Thomas of ‘Stuck in a Book’and Karen of ‘Kaggsy’s Bookish Rambling’.

To take a look at other books published in the same year, reviewed by other bloggers, please take a look at the round up posts that should be up on the previously mentioned blogs. This is a really lovely way to learn more about themes that may have been a common focus at a particular time in history.

In ‘Miss Buncle’s Book’ – the first in the series – a thirty-something, unmarried woman, by force of circumstance has to take to writing to support herself when her dividends don’t bring in as much income as expected.

As the woman, Barbara Buncle, has NO imagination whatsoever, she writes from experience, portraying events and characters from the English village she lives in.

Her books are a massive success and all is well … until… several people in her village recognise themselves as characters in the book and are angry that they have not been portrayed in the most favourable light. And there is a hunt on to unearth the identity of the mystery novel writer.

The writing is wonderful, the characters are brilliant. What more can I say? If you need a nice light read this summer, you will definitely enjoy this one.

However, the pick of my reading for the #1936club is ‘Miss Buncle Married’ – so let’s focus on this sequel.

In ‘Miss Buncle Married’ – Barbara and her husband find themselves in the strange predicament of being so involved in the social life of the community in their little corner of Hampstead, that they hardly have an evening to call their own, to enjoy each other’s company. An endless string of bridge evenings and listless suppers fill up their social calendar. When both Barbara and her husband discover that neither of them enjoy these social soirées they realise that the only way to extricate themselves from this entanglement is to move to a quiet neighbourhood, preferably in the country. As Barbara’s husband describes the perfect house nestled in the countryside, a vision befalls Barbara’s eyes and she feels she cannot rest until she has found their paradise.

So ensues several months of house hunting in the surrounding countryside. One day, almost upon the point of giving up, Barbara stumbles upon the perfect house, dilapidated but with fine features, having a beautiful garden in a sleepy old Elizabethan town called Wandlebury. However, at the lawyer and house agent’s office involved with showing the house to Barbara, one of the lawyers mistakes Barbara for someone else, residing in the village of Wandlebury and makes her privy to that person’s last will and deed. The lawyer is mortified when he discovers his mistake and Barbara must keep her knowledge a secret even though all sorts of complications ensue regarding the terms of the will. To make matters worse, Barbara is struck with another urge to write about the people and places of Wandlebury. Will Barbara and her husband need to uproot themselves from Wandlebury and a chance of living their best life, once again in order to flee the wrath of their neighbours?

The Miss Buncle books are brilliant light-hearted comfort reads. The second book in the series fell under a similar formula to the first one with a few differences. There was a twist in the tale with the addition of the will. We are introduced to some new and endearing characters – especially Sam and new neighbour and horse enthusiast Jerry. An artist family who live just next door are also food for inspiration for Barbara – supplying character inspiration and memorable quotes.

Though I didn’t enjoy this book as much as Miss Buncle’s Book – there were some particular elements and themes to enjoy in the sequel. The descriptions of Archway House in Wandlebury, which Barbara and her husband decide to renovate are lovely. A quiet, witty, playful story, a handful of interesting and varying characters who live in an English village, romantic entanglements, funny, cringeworthy situations regarding missing trousers – these are all things to love in the book. Barbara’s gradual character development both as a writer and as a more mature person are also points to be noticed.

It’s also interesting to note that even though we are on the cusp of the Second World War, money of the tremours of the impending war penetrate the calm environs of a Wandlebury. There are severally references to Barbara’s husband’s active service during the Great War, however, and several grumblings about the lack of initiative of the then, present generation of young men, namely the nephew of Barbara’s husband, Sam.

The end of Miss Buncle Married made me eager to pick up the next book in the series. Now that, is surely the sign of a good book.

Many thanks to Simon and Karen for hosting this book club. Do check out their blogs for other book reviews written during 1936.

10 Books Set in the English Countryside

August 11, 2017February 10, 2020 / Bag Full of Books / 26 Comments

Give me a story set in an English village, inundated with curious characters and gentle descriptions of nature and musings about life- and you have me sold. Here in no particular order are some of my most favorite books set in rural idylls. I go to them, for comfort…

1) One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downes

This is the story of a day in the life of a woman, set in the small coastal English village of Wealding. In the aftermath of the Second World War the English middle class are struggling to come to terms with their new life, less dependent on domestic help and trying to let go of the grandeur of the old days. This is a quiet contemplative novel which captures the beauty of the location. Despite not having much plot the story conveys a sense of longing and melancholy hard to capture in words.

2) Fairacre Festival by Miss Read

Dora Jessie Saint who wrote under the pen name of Miss Read captured the bucolic beauty of Cotswold villages and penned wonderfully human, simple stories that conveyed a sense of calm and goodwill. Tinged with a wry wit and the most wonderful characters, Miss Read’s ‘Fairacre‘ and ‘Thrush Green’ series are the height of comfort reading.

3) Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope

Tolstoy freely admitted that one of the influences in his writing were the novels of Victorian author Anthony Trollope. One of Trollope’s most famous series are the Barchester Chronicles– a set of six books set in the fictional rural county of Barsetshire. Apart from writing about nature and characters set in small towns and villages, Trollope wrote remarkably about money, social prejudice, politics and women with the most humane touch.

4) If Only They Could Talk by James Herriot

James Alfred Wight wrote semi-autobiographical novels under the name of James Herriot. A veterinary surgeon, he wrote about his work and personal life in the rolling hills and dales of Yorkshire. Though the work was often back breaking and hard, Herriot’s love for the location and the Yorkshire people freely emanate from each page. His books are a sheer delight.

5) Portrait of Elmbury by John Moore

Portrait of Elmbury published by Slightly Foxed is the first book in the rural trilogy, recounting the history of a small market town in England, named Elmbury. In this first book, the author John Moore describes his childhood and youth in the market village. How the village was hit by the aftermath of war, the poverty and declining conditions of the Depression era. The rural descriptions are particularly evocative of time and place.

6) Wild Strawberries by Angela Thirkell

Freely borrowing from Trollope’s fictional county of Barsetshire, nearly a century later Angela Thirkell wrote a long series of loosely linked novels that mapped the social history of a generation destabilized by the Second World War. Thirkell’s books are light and frothy but they capture a slice of history that is interesting to witness as a reader.

7) Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell

Though some of Gaskell’s works are set in the city and beautifully depict the Industrial Revolution of Victorian times, Cranford is set in a rural location. The small country town of Cranford supposedly corresponds to Knutsford in Cheshire. Small country customs and the portrayal of wonderful human characters cover the scope of this novel.

8)Miss Buncle’s Book by DE Stevenson

Miss Buncle’s Book is delightful not only due to the unique plot but also the brilliant cast of characters set in a small country village. 30 something unmarried Barbara Buncle resorts to novel writing as a source of income. As she has no imagination whatsoever her book draws heavily upon the characters and incidents occurring in her village. And when the villagers discover the book and their own unmistakable, unflattering portrayal they are determined to hunt down the secret author.

9)A Month in the Country by JL Carr

In this story a young war veteran seeks occupation in the form of the restoration of a church mural in a sleepy, English village. Recovering from shell shock, the restoration of the religious mural is accompanied by the artist’s own reparation of spirit and sense of well being.

10) Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome

Sailing holidays in the English Lake District, hunting for stolen treasure and camping on deserted islands- Ransome’s books abound with the charm of a time that was much safer and secure. The descriptions of the lake country will simply mesmerize you.

Elizabeth and Her German Garden by Elizabeth Von Arnim, Illyrian Spring by Ann Bridge, Nightingale Wood by Stella Gibbons receive honourable mentions. Before I finish it would be remiss of me to omit the works of Thomas Hardy- the ultimate guru of pastoral literature.

Books that I intend to add to this list are George Eliot’s Middlemarch and the novels of Tolstoy. Let me know of your favourite books set in rural locations. I’d love to hear about them.

12 New Authors I Would Like to Read in 2016

December 3, 2015December 6, 2015 / Bag Full of Books / 11 Comments

Now that I’m approaching my fourth decade of life, I feel more confident about the choices that I make in life. For example, I know when I enter a Starbucks, to be confronted by a bewildering array of choices, that I am NOT a green tea latte type of person. Most definitely not. For me, it is the subtle aroma of the simple cappuccino, made with a hint of sugar, that gives me pleasure.

Similarly, I have accepted the fact that I will never be the ‘skinny jeans wearing type of gal’ with the permanently furrowed brow. Give me the comfortable boyfriend jeans and I will sink comfortably into my favourite couch, to reach for that reassuring book.

When it comes to book choices too, I have finally reached that beautiful place, when I am able to appreciate in advance, exactly what kind of book I will enjoy reading, even when I have never read a single line written by that author.

Most of them are modern classics, written in and around the twentieth century and deal with stories related to the home and society.

Here in no particular order, are the twelve authors whom I have never read, but I expect (and hope!) will give me many hours of unadulterated reading pleasure in 2016.