Pages:
387
Original
date of publication: 1936
My
edition: 2011 (Persephone)
Why
I decided to read:
How
I acquired my copy: Persephone website, June 2011
When
we last saw Miss Buncle, she was just about to marry her publisher, Arthur
Abbott. Her novel, Disturber of the Peace, disturbed the peace in the town of
Silverstream, and the novel opens with a decision to move from there in light
of the censure Barbara, now of course married, received for writing it. Barbara
begins married life in Wandlebury, a new town with a whole new set of
characters from which to gain inspiration. But Barbara claims she has eschewed
novel writing and turns her attention to her new house, friends, and family,
including Arthur’s nephew Sam.
Barbara
is just as charming as ever; she’s incredibly perceptive of the people she
encounters, from the village busybodies, to the town doctor (who happens to be
an old friend of Arthur’s), to an eccentric old aristocrat who changes her will
according to the whim of a moment. It’s this will that’s at the heart of the
plot of the book and the mistakes and mistaken identities that ensue as a part
of Barbara’s attempts to interfere. There are some truly hysterical scenes in
the novel, but I don’t want to reveal anything for fear of ruing the plot.
Only
time will tell if Barbara learns her lesson; I’m wondering when The Two Mrs.
Abbotts will be republished so I can get more of these wonderful characters,
including the Marvels next door: Mr. Marvel is a wonderfully boorish Artist and
his ragamuffin children who run roughshod over the Abbotts’ garden. The ending
is somewhat predictable, and many of the characters are toned down from the
ones that appear in Miss Buncle’s Book, but I thought this novel was entertaining
from the first page to the last.
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