Miss Buncle's Book by D E Stevenson

Why did I wait so long to read Miss Buncle's Book? I enjoyed it so much when I picked it up the other day and was reminded of how much I liked the fourteen Stevenson novels I've read in the past.

Well, I do know why I waited. I wanted to buy the Persephone edition but the cost has made me hesitate. But now there is an affordable version for the Kindle and that is where I read it. I'd rather have a paper copy of this and perhaps one day I'll spring for the Persephone book (with bookmark!) Meanwhile I have also acquired Miss Buncle Married for my Kindle and have an interlibrary loan request in for The Two Mrs Abbotts, the third book in the Buncle trilogy.

This story is clever. The year is approximately 1930 and Miss Buncle, like so many others, has found her small income from investments declining until it is now nearly gone. She must acquire some money. Being a bit unsophisticated, Miss Buncle decides the best way is to write a novel, oblivious of the difficulty getting a novel published even in 1930.

In her book the characters based very closely on her neighbors. There is the retired army officer who likes the lady who lives across the way (who likes him very much in return), but whom he has not thought of in terms of marriage. There's the warm-hearted, competent doctor who doesn't put up with hypochondriacs.

And then there are the not-so-nice people in town. The lady of the manor who started out as a chorus girl and now is very much above the rest of the village and whose husband is henpecked. There is the author who is such a tyrant he makes his wife very unhappy and his children are afraid of him.

The publisher to whom Miss Buncle submits her book loves it. He is delighted with Miss Buncle herself also. She signs a contract and the book is issued -- and then the fun begins as the people of the little village of Silverstream recognize themselves and become irate as they attempt to discover who among them has written this book, which to them is horrible, libelous, scandalous.

D E Stevenson wrote more than 40 novels. She was a member of the Lighthouse Stevensons family in Scotland and married to an officer in the Ghurkha Rifles and traveled about the world with her husband and family. Her other famous book is Mrs Tim of the Regiment.

 

Comments

[Nan]

I love this book, and I love the work of DES. So few books are just plain good reads, with stories that keep one's interest. I suppose they were called women's books at one time, but the stuff that is now called that rarely comes up to her standards. Now they seem to be very formulaic. Must have cheating, must have cancer, etc. You know what I mean.

[Mary Ronan Drew]

You're right, Nan, nobody seems to be writing this sort of book any more. With DES you know will not be facing wrenching tragedy but rather a realistic problem which the characters work out without frightening the reader. And there is no formula - which makes so many otherwise acceptable "women's books" boring. I'm going to get out my list of D E Stevenson and acquire more of the books I haven't read and ask for others on ILL.

[Nan]

My library has a whole shelf of them. I just love how they keep the old books. It may not go on forever, but probably at least through my lifetime.
And I've just begun exercising again. :<)

[Mary Ronan Drew]

You are lucky your library still has these books, Nan. The Spokane Library has a few but I fear they have let most of them go.

I, too, have been walking again. And thinking about you and wondering if you were also walking.

[Kimberly Wold]

I have this book sitting on my book shelf in all its gray Persephone glory (with bookmark!). I shall be reading it soon.

[Mary Ronan Drew]

Oh, Kimberly! Start reading it immediately. It's delightful.

[Kimberly]

Mary: Just finished Miss Buncle's Book. Absolutely loved! It is darling, clever, and just what I needed. Thank you for the nudge to pull it off the shelf.

Merry Christmas to you and Wilhelm!

Kim

[Mary Ronan Drew]

I'm glad you liked it, Kim. It's so appealing, isn't it.

Merry Christmas to you too!