Uneasy Money

by P.G. Wodehouse

William FitzWilliam Delamere Chalmers, Lord Dawlish, or "Bill", makes his living as a London club secretary. His beautiful fiancée, Claire Fenwick, will not marry him unless he makes more money. Bill decides to move to America in hopes of striking it rich. Just before he sails, Bill is unexpectedly bequeathed a million pounds by an American he once helped at golf; the millionaire left his niece and nephew only twenty pounds, which makes him uneasy. He endeavors to approach them and see if he can fix up something, like giving them half the inheritance. He discovers that it can be difficult to give money away.

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Classics, Comedy, Romance, Audiobook, British Literature

190 pages, Paperback

First published March 17, 1916

About the author

Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE, was a comic writer who enjoyed enormous popular success during a career of more than seventy years and continues to be widely read over 40 years after his death. Despite the political and social upheavals that occurred during his life, much of which was spent in France and the United States, Wodehouse's main canvas remained that of prewar English upper-class society, reflecting his birth, education, and youthful writing career.

An acknowledged master of English prose, Wodehouse has been admired both by contemporaries such as Hilaire Belloc, Evelyn Waugh and Rudyard Kipling and by more recent writers such as Douglas Adams, Salman Rushdie and Terry Pratchett. Sean O'Casey famously called him "English literature's performing flea", a description that Wodehouse used as the title of a collection of his letters to a friend, Bill Townend.

Best known today for the Jeeves and Blandings Castle novels and short stories, Wodehouse was also a talented playwright and lyricist who was part author and writer of fifteen plays and of 250 lyrics for some thirty musical comedies. He worked with Cole Porter on the musical Anything Goes (1934) and frequently collaborated with Jerome Kern and Guy Bolton. He wrote the lyrics for the hit song Bill in Kern's Show Boat (1927), wrote the lyrics for the Gershwin/Romberg musical Rosalie (1928), and collaborated with Rudolf Friml on a musical version of The Three Musketeers (1928).

Reviews

[Pramod Nair · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uneasy Money is a standalone romantic comedy novel from P.G. Wodehouse, which can be regarded as one among his best works with his signature humor and twisted plots. Written in 1916 this is one of those self-containing titles from Wodehouse, which is not part of any of his usual series of narratives with recurring characters. By utilizing his usual charming way of narrative and his knack in creating loveable characters to the maximum, Wodehouse creates a warm romantic novel, brimming with romance and hilarious adventure.

The plot revolves around William FitzWilliam Delamere Chalmers, Lord Dawlish or "Bill", a simple, decent young man with a fascination for golf and who is financially on unstable grounds. He has a heart of gold with not much care for money but his fiancée Claire, who accepted his proposal captivated by his title and thinking of him as rich, is not entirely satisfied with his state of affairs. In an unexpected twist of fate Bill inherits a million pounds from an American millionaire with whom he had a brief acquaintance during a game of golf. He also learns that the millionaire has left nothing of value to his niece and nephew.

Ever being the pure hearted gentleman, Bill becomes morally uncomfortable over this and he travels to America to share half of the inheritance with the niece and nephew of the millionaire. What follows is a potpourri of comical situations, complex misunderstandings, sub-plots, budding of new romantic relationships and hilarious intertwining of paths between characters typical of Wodehouse narrations which pits Bill, Claire (who is also in America on some errands), Elizabeth Boyd (the niece) and her brother into incredibly funny plots set in the rural backdrops of Long Island.

Uneasy Money is a clean romantic comedy, which is easy to read and with enough dosage of humor and romance. This is a perfect candidate for lightweight reading and Wodehouse with his pleasant and hilarious narration of a story will make you forget everything around you.

In 1918 a black and white silent movie adaptation was made with the same name starring Taylor Holmes as Lord Dawlish.

[Jason Koivu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Uneasy Money fell flat for me. The rags-to-riches, boy-meets-girl tale kinda dragged and I wasn't feeling the funny this go around. Oh well, I'll just try one of the 30 or 40 other Wodehouses I haven't read yet!

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so happy I finally discovered Wodehouse! I have never read books published over 100 years ago that are so accessible and not dated at all. Sometimes even timely... I mean....

" 'Why, he would have a pistol, wouldn't he? I thought everybody had over here.' Except for what he had been able to observe during the brief period of his present visit, Lord Dawlish's knowledge of the United States had been derived from the American plays which he had seen in London, and in these chappies were producing revolvers all the time. He had got the impression that a revolver was as much a part of the ordinary well-dressed man's equipment in the United States as a collar."

1916, ladies and gentlemen. Change "plays" to "movies" and "chappies" to "guys" and it could have been written in 2016.

Anyway, funny little rom-com for some light reading. The usual misunderstandings and complications. Highly enjoyable.

BTW, some of Wodehouse's books are free for Kindle...

[Dave Law · Rating 5 out of 5]

Others have commented on the plot so I will comment on aspects of this novel that I enjoy. I love books where the main characters are decent and good people, and you cannot find more decent individuals than the hero and heroine of this book. It is also so refreshing to read a story where a woman can be strong in her femininity and a man in his masculinity, without either trying to take the roll of the other. Both Bill (Lord Dawlish) and Elizabeth Boyd are well portrayed and a joy to read about. This is one of my all time favorite Wodehouse novels.

[Rajan · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://rajanmogha.blogspot.in/2015/08...

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another stand alone, and another Anglo American story. Only not a 5* because of one slow moment, and a character I didn’t like, but couldn’t laugh at, unusual for Wodehouse.

[Dani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though less hysterical than some other Wodehouse novels, this was thoroughly captivating and delightful. It wouldn't be Wodehouse without a case of concealed identity and more zany coincidences than one can count. And just when you think the plot couldn't get any more ridiculous, someone goes and shoots a monkey in an outhouse in the dark. But the romance in the second half is what really gives this tale heart. It's sweet, whimsical, and authentic -- just the kind I like.

[Laurel Hicks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well done, Plum!

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

An early (1916) standalone romcom from Wodehouse.

Bill Chalmers, Lord Dawlish, inherited a title without an estate. This is quite unexpected and upsetting for his actress fiancee Claire, who refuses to marry on the paltry 400 pounds a year he makes as Club Secretary, and is constantly pressuring him to engage in schemes to make money which go against his morals.

When he learns an American millionaire he met a few years ago has left him his entire estate, leaving nothing to his neice and nephew, Bill sneaks off to New York without Claire's knowledge to try and set things right, and surprising no one who's ever read Wodehouse before, falls in love with the niece.

This was very enjoyable. The cast is mostly charming (Claire being the major exception) and I think of all the Wodehouse I've read so far this feels the most like something I'd expect from an author who also wrote for musical theater. (Though I'm not sure how they'd have managed the monkey and snake in a stage play.) Bill's an amiable himbo type, Elizabeth a pratical down to earth girl who runs a bee farm, and to fill out the cast there's the brother, "Nutty"; Lady Weatherby, a former colleague of Claire's who's now a "barefoot dancer"; her husband, another poor Lordling; her promoter/agent; and another American millionaire, in the car business, who's fallen for Claire. Lady Weatherby, (the dancer) has a pet snake and monkey, at the insistence of her promoter, which is the cause of some friction with Lord Weatherby, an artistic type who's easily disturbed.

Time will tell if I'll ever reread this one, but I'm going to round this down to a 4 for now, because I did feel slightly less engaged than normal reading this. If I'm to try and fault the book for that, and not my mood, I'd have to point to two possible sources of friction. Firstly the writing, while certainly not an embarrassment to Wodehouse's exceptionally high standard, felt slightly more distant than usual. And secondly, the plot seemed to move largely by coincidence and timing rather than motivated actions by any of the characters. While Wodehouse is farce and typically leans a lot on coincidence and timing, and I flat out reject the idea that a protagonist must be "active", I do feel it might have been a touch better if a few more of the things which befell Bill were motivated rather than chance.

Also a bit put out we're never given a reason why Nutcombe stiffed Elizabeth in the will. (He left the drunken nephew one hundred dollars.)

Anyway, it was fun, and it seems like as reasonable a choice as any if you're looking to try a Wodehouse without any of the series characters.

[Thom Swennes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lord Dawlish (Bill) is an easy-going, generous, and financially destitute member of England’s aristocracy. His financial deficiencies don’t really bother him as he has just enough to meet his modest life's needs. Claire, his fiancée, isn’t so tolerant of his pecuniary circumstances and refuses to set a date for their wedding until he improves this state of affairs. He hits upon the idea of travelling to America, as he had heard that fortunes were there for the taking. Before his departure he receives surprising and slightly unsettling news from the firm of Nichols, Nichols, Nichols and Nichols, attorneys at law. He has been named beneficiary of a million pound legacy belonging to a man he barely knew. On discovering that this inheritance excludes the niece and nephew (the deceased only living relatives) his conscience rebels and he decides that he should split the money with the niece. Bill travels to New York on a quest to search for this girl and do right by her. This is a classic story with all the elements, humor, love and suspense. I particularly recommend this book to those (both male and female) who are on the brink of entering into matrimony, as it may shed a little light on this life-changing commitment. On further consideration, it is sure to be food for thought for everyone who reads it. This wise food is sure to fill the masses.

[Scilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

This early Wodehouse is a humorous story about Lord Dawlish (Bill), his actress first fiancee Claire, and how how he finds his true love. Bill is loveable, sympathetic, and generous. His fiance won't marry him until he gets more money and encourages him to do things to get money which aren't in Bill's character. When he is told he has inherited a huge sum of money from a man he met once and cured of his golf slice, he tries to give the previous heir (Elizabeth Boyd) half the money. When she refuses, he goes to New York under an assumed name to see what he can do. Although he doesn't know it, his fiance has also gone to New York to visit an old friend and becomes engaged to a rich automobile maker, Dudley Pickering. Of course with both in NY, they can't help but see each other. There are several memorable scenes including Bill dancing in a NY restaurant, Dudley playing detective, and Elizabeth trying to get Bill stung by bees.

[Lata · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a typical Wodehouse novel. It certainly had the Wodehouse brand of humour but didn't make me laugh non-stop. What I liked was the beautiful love story of Lord Dawlish and Elizabeth Boyd. In the beginning, I found the novel a bit dull (vis-à-vis my expectation based on Bertie & Jeeves novels). What turned around and made me give a 5* rating were the great characterization of Leads. Both were amazingly practical, very decent and with high morals. They complimented each other perfectly. I absolutely loved Elizabeth's arguments in the end.
I feel contended reading this book. Sigh! Don't have the heart to read murder mystery and thrillers, which I usually like.

Quotable quote -
“At the age of eleven or thereabouts women acquire a poise and an ability to handle difficult situations which a man, if he is lucky, manages to achieve somewhere in the later seventies.”

[Jules Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

He's known for his Jeeves series, but seriously, his novels rock! The new characters keep them from being to formula driven. And there are so many memorable lines. My favorite quotation:

"Boyhood, like measles, is one of those complaints which a man should catch young and have done with, for when it comes in middle life it is apt to be serious."

Does it get better than that?

[Phillip · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my opinion this is one of Wodehouse's great stand alone novels. It's unique absurdity is satisfying and prevents it from being one of his recycled stories. I recommend it and know I will be rereading it in the future.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was lots of fun with Wodehouse’s familiar and beloved clever turns of phrase, absurd but lovable characters, and wacky plots. I’m going to remember the spectacle of Bill dancing for a long time. 😆

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wodehouse is such a pleasure to read! Even though this book was written over a hundred years ago in many ways it reads as modern. Wodehouse is the opposite of stuffy. The plot itself is rather thin and contrived but the easy humor and fresh snappy dialogue nicely counterbalances that weakness.

Some lines I enjoyed:

Of American cocktails he had a fair working knowledge, and he appreciated ragtime. But of the great American institutions - ice water, district primaries, New Jersey mosquitoes, the Woolworth Building, George M. Cohan, chop suey, rubberneck wagons, bunts, silver-tongued orators, Yellowstone Park, Penn, Station, corn on the cob and Eva Tanguay - he was completely ignorant.

It is a curious law of nature that the most undeserving brothers always have the best sisters. Thrifty, plodding young men, who get up early, and do it now, and catch the boss's eye, and save half their salaries, have sisters who never speak civilly to them except when they want to borrow money.

Have you ever dreamed that you were being chased up Broadway by a chimpanzee in evening dress?

Instead of being permitted to concentrate his attention on his tragedy, Nutty had to trudge three-quarters of a mile, conciliate a bull terrier and trudge back again carrying a heavy water pail. It was as if one of the heroes of Greek drama, in the middle of his big scene, had been asked to run around the corner to the deli.

Was it, he asked himself, her fault that she was so massive and spoke as if she were addressing an open air convention in a strong gale? Perhaps it was hereditary. Perhaps her father had been a circus giant and her mother the strong woman of the troupe.

As a dancer, in fact, he closely resembled a Newfoundland puppy trying to run across a field.

To Claire an automobile was a shiny thing with padded seats, in which you rode if you were lucky enough to know someone who owned one. She had no wish to go more deeply into the matter.

Lord Wetherby was working on a picture which he proposed to call Innocence, a study of a small Italian child he had discovered in Washington Square. Lady Wetherby had suggested The Black Hand's Newest Recruit as a better title than the one selected by the artist.

For what is life but a series of sharp corners round each of which Fate lies in wait for us with a stuffed eelskin?

[Krisette Spangler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of a P.G. Wodehouse book today. His simple stories and delightfully comic descriptions will cause you to laugh out loud. You have to be careful where you read his books, because you will get very strange looks when you are giggling uncontrollably in public.

[Alicia Perrin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this from start to finish. Refreshing and funny. My “light comedic novel” for the 2021 Literary Life Challenge.

[Shawn Ritenour · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wodehouse wrote two kinds of novels those that regularly make you laugh out loud and those that leave you feeling warm. This is one of the latter. Delightful book.

[Allie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lord Dawlish, "Bill" to his friends, is one of Wodehouse's many prototype Bertie Woosters--a series of slangy, feather-brained, good-hearted young men who invariably end up steeped to their glassy eyeballs in comedic complications. (Freddie Threepwood of the Blandings Castle series and the disjointed, Jeeves-less narrator Reggie Pepper spring to mind.) Outside of Wooster himself, Dawlish is unquestionably the most lovable. Right at the beginning, we see him getting accosted by a peddler who dubiously claims to have a starving family at home. No Wodehouse hero can turn a deaf ear or an empty purse on such a plea as that. "Rather a sad case, don't you know. Squads of children at home demanding bread," Dawlish weakly explains to his disapproving fianceé. "Didn't want much else, apparently, but were frightfully keen on bread."

The fianceé in question, Claire, is the scourge of poor Bill's existence, although he hasn't caught onto that yet. She accepted his proposal to begin with because he was a man of title, and was disappointed to find that he had no fortune to accompany it. She now tries, Lady Macbeth-like, to persuade him to earn money by what he considers underhanded means. Bill himself cares little for money, so when he inherits a million dollars from an eccentric whose golf game he once improved, his first thought is of the eccentric's cheated relatives in America, and he makes his way there with a view toward dividing the winnings with them somehow. Claire, unaware of this, is also on her way to America for a different purpose. In the usual Wodehouse manner, various characters snowball around these two until there are several factions, paths cross, and misunderstandings blossom like spring flowers.

Meanwhile, Dawlish slowly discovers that Claire might not be the girl for him. He feels what Wodehouse would call an "affinity" toward one Elizabeth Boyd, who, with her brother, would have inherited the million dollars were it not for him. Elizabeth, who has no idea that her new friend Bill is the same Lord Dawlish who stepped in and inherited her fortune, might be Wodehouse's best-drawn heroine. Unlike most female characters seen from a male perspective, she isn't merely around to fascinate, but to be liked and admired for her own sake. Humorous, strong-willed, and unpredictable, she gives you an idea of the sort of girl Bertie Wooster might have been happy with if his stories didn't demand that he remain uncommitted. What results is not only one of Wodehouse's best romances, but one of the best romances I've ever read, period. While not taking itself too seriously, it manages to tug hard on the heartstrings, even possibly induce a few tears. One gets the rare feeling that the writer cares as much about his own characters as any reader could.

Laughter certainly isn't wanting, though, and here I might mention that, since Wodehouse's catchy idealism is a byword, his gift for black comedy has been severely underrated. Plenty of authors, writing a story of this kind, would add a lovable pet monkey to the proceedings to appear in the wrong places and wreak havoc. But far fewer would allow the same lovable monkey to be shot dead by accident, and no one but Wodehouse would have his hero realize with a start, second after the climactic love scene, that he's still holding the dead monkey by the tail.

[Jenn Estepp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last night, I couldn't figure out what to read and the feeling of reading ennui was great upon me. So I decided to be logical and unemotional about it and read the oldest-thing-on-my-Kindle-that-I-haven't-read-yet and it was this. Because I am an idiot. Or, rather, when I went on my "Free Wodehouse!" binge upon first getting my Kindle, I moved on to other stuff before reading this one.

So, there you go. I think maybe I expected it to be more about golf, since it's mentioned in the beginning and one of covers features two men playing. And I don't really care about golf, so that is how I explain my idiocy. It's not really about golf. It's your typical Wodehouse, although early days, so none of the characters are particularly familiar. Except that most of the characters in Wodehouse are familiar, once you've read one or two. It's funny. There are mishaps. People falling in and out of love and having money or not having money. Also, Long Island beekeeping and scandalous barefoot dancing. Love.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Chose this as a quick commute filler after I finished "Silkworm," so I suppose some letdown was inevitable, but still: Uneasy Money is *not* one of Wodehouse's best. There are a few guffaw-inducing lines, but overall, it's a mere nothing of a story that is not redeemed by enough of his usual wit. I'm glad it was a freebie from the good people at Librivox!

**Note: I did NOT listen to this edition of the audio; mine was read by Tim Someone of "Big Bible" through Librivox.**

[for-much-deliberation ... · Rating 5 out of 5]

The humorous tale of Lord Dawlish and his adventures in romance, golf playing and, trying to earn some money, that is of course until he learns that he just inherited quite alot from a fellow golfer...

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Early days here. Bit rough on the monkey.

[Illiterate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oodles of fun.

[Madhulika Liddle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bill Chalmers, now Lord Dawlish, is a generous and sweet soul, happily giving of his largesse (which might be more aptly described as smallese, since the title he’s inherited brings with it no money). Lord Dawlish is dependent on the annual salary he receives from a club where he works as secretary. This is a thorn in the side for Claire, his dancer-actress fiancée, who keeps heckling him to do something about his financial condition. Finally, Dawlish, convinced that America is the place to get rich, decides to go west.

That very day, out of the blue, Lord Dawlish gets astonishing news: Ira Nutcombe, an eccentric American whom he had once helped with his golf, has, by way of gratitude, left Dawlish a million pounds in his will. This has involved nullifying a former will bequeathing Nutcombe’s fortune to his niece Elizabeth. Dawlish, crushed under the guilt of having been the unwitting recipient of what was due to another (and anyway with his passage already booked for New York), decides to go to America, approach Elizabeth and offer her half the legacy.

That’s only the start of the adventure, because Elizabeth—whom Dawlish writes to beforehand—spurns his offer and (sight unseen) hates him for what she imagines was a nifty bit of buttering up of her uncle. And Dawlish, having met (by coincidence) Elizabeth’s aptly-nicknamed brother Nutty, ends up staying at their home, calling himself Bill Chalmers… while his fiancée Claire arrives in the vicinity too.

There are performing girls, there are peers. There are bees and a portrait-painting peer, a monkey and a disapproving butler. A middle-aged automobile tycoon who skipped his boyhood and now has it catch up with him at a most inopportune time.

And there is romance. Unlike Wodehouse’s later novels (especially the Blandings Castle books), where even the romances are more funny than romantic, here the romance does get quite mushy—and yet not as mushy as in, say, in The Prince and Betty. The plot is solid, with all those delightful coincidences one expects of Wodehouse. There’s a clutch of very likeable characters (Nutty, nutty as he is, is especially a hoot). Plus, to top it all off, there is perhaps what is Wodehouse’s most famous tribute to the f of the s: At the age of eleven or thereabouts women acquire a poise and an ability to handle difficult situations which a man, if he’s lucky, manages to achieve somewhere in the later seventies.

Vintage Wodehouse, good wholesome entertainment.

[Whitney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Solid Wodehouse formulas are here. Protagonist Lord William Dawlish actually prefers to be called Bill, and actually he has no money--just a job in a London club, and honestly he's not incredibly smart at all. Okay, full disclosure, he's a dumb schmuck. But luckily he's engaged to the gorgeous Claire who has plans to help him rise to the top of society.

Okay, full disclosure--Claire is a mean-spirited, money-grabbing GOON.

Luckily they both go on simultaneous journeys to America--unbeknownst to one another--where the story works itself out and everyone gets more or less what they deserve.

A couple killer quotes, unrelated to plot summary:

When put-upon folks are given tasks to perform:
"It was as if one of the heroes of Greek drama, in the middle of his big scene, had been asked to run round the corner to a provision store."

Claire and her friend talking:
"I'm thinking."
"A very good thing, too, so they tell me. I've never tried it myself."

And there is much more sarcasm, wittiness, and hijinks to be seen! However, I am not sure if this book would be great for people who've never read Wodehouse before. Doesn't quite have the bang and zing of his more famous characters--Wooster, Jeeves, the Blandings family, etc.

[Teri-K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Delightful story of Lord Bill, who inherits 5 million from a man he only met once, and feels so bad about it he offers half to the man's niece, who should have got the lot. She, of course, refuses to touch a penny. How they meet, get tangled up with an actress who shares her home with a monkey and a snake, and other difficulties, makes a fun story. Not like Jeeves and Wooster, as this book focuses on the MCs and their relationship, but enough of his style of humor to keep the reader entertained.

[Noam · Rating 4 out of 5]

getting back to the mike and psmith early days heights! not as blatantly hilarious every fourth or fifth page as some of the other books, but super playing out of the intricate plot... crowd-pleasing stuff, golly

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good. Lots of fun but like others much more.