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Miss Buncle #1-2
Miss Buncle
Contains: Miss Buncle's Book (originally published 1934) and Miss Buncle Married (originally published 1936)
- GenresFiction
323 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1964
3 people are currently reading
144 people want to read
About the author
D.E. Stevenson
67 books630 followersThere is more than one author with this name
Dorothy Emily Stevenson was a best-selling Scottish author. She published more than 40 romantic novels over a period of more than 40 years. Her father was a cousin of Robert Louis Stevenson.
D.E. Stevenson had an enormously successful writing career: between 1923 and 1970, four million copies of her books were sold in Britain and three million in the States. Like E.F. Benson, Ann Bridge, O. Douglas or Dorothy L. Sayers (to name but a few) her books are funny, intensely readable, engaging and dependable.
Dorothy Emily Stevenson was a best-selling Scottish author. She published more than 40 romantic novels over a period of more than 40 years. Her father was a cousin of Robert Louis Stevenson.
D.E. Stevenson had an enormously successful writing career: between 1923 and 1970, four million copies of her books were sold in Britain and three million in the States. Like E.F. Benson, Ann Bridge, O. Douglas or Dorothy L. Sayers (to name but a few) her books are funny, intensely readable, engaging and dependable.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
July 29, 2023
3.5 stars rounded up. Not quite as good as the first but still quite fun to read. At times the plot dragged and it felt too repetitive but the characters are well developed.
January 24, 2013
Miss Buncle is a delight. I start to laugh whenever I think about the plot. Miss Buncle is short of money so she writes a book under a pseudo nom. Unfortunately it is a thinly disguised look at her own town. It becomes a hit and causes great disturbance in the sleepy village. The towns people start to investigate who could have written such a terrible book revealing all their imperfections and foibles.
Unknowingly humorous and a very shy character is Barbara. She writes another book which finally reveals to everyone that she wrote both books. The towns people gather to confront her.
Unknowingly humorous and a very shy character is Barbara. She writes another book which finally reveals to everyone that she wrote both books. The towns people gather to confront her.
March 19, 2023
I've been blessed to read many books I liked over the past couple months (Praise God!), but haven't gotten around to reviewing any. My pile of books read is at desperate heights. Here goes nothing with reviews...
After reading my first DE Stevenson novel and enjoying the comfort of an old world cozy novel, I dove into another. Her writing continues to feel very modern and I wondered if this was a publishing hoax and they really were written in modern times. This question further burrowed into my mind because (while not crossing lines into action) there were a lot of modern-day (post-christian) worldviews and values expressed through the novel. Everything is subtle and can be ignored, if you just want to enjoy a clean and enjoyable novel. But slightly veiled problematic issues are also easy to locate, if you are watching for them.
- I was very confused by the wife/husband interaction. The wife grows bold and pretends to leave, then the husband magically does everything she wants. So the life lesson for women is to manipulate men by pretending not to care about them? Throughout the book, there were continued themes of 'managing' men, which stuck me as high disrespectful to the dignity of the human person. Bad behavior in this regard was glorified and Miss Buncle justified herself and casts herself as a victim with the ends (getting her own way) justifying the means. It felt like the very modern view that everything explicitly masculine is problematic.
- Continued charming tone in the novel lulling me into enjoyment.
- Alice in Wonderland feel at some points. Meant to be whimsical, but in reality very confusing.
- Reference to ghosts.
- Heroine is not a nice or good person. Yet, she seems clearly intended as a positive example of a woman who is 'empowered' to win at the expense of others.
- Overall, the books seems to celebrate misbehavior (in the children, for example) and breaking social norms (Barabara's actions, for example) and vilify those who want to preserve order, while not acknowledging the tremendous order, peace and stability enjoyed by everyone in the existing environment. This book contains quietly subversive and destructive ideas. They are still a long ways off from the cliff of disaster and social breakdown, but they are headed toward it oblivious and merry.
- It is presented as a 'cute' idea that a child is possessed by demons.
- The nanny appears and word vomits multiple story lines in a multiple page monologue. :-0
- Barbara sympathizes with characters once damage is done, but she encourages their personal destruction while it is in progress. She seems to enjoy the drama without acknowledging its connection to the pain she later witnesses.
- Barbara is very judgement of a certain moral failing she sees in others (intolerance). She feels justified in being rude to characters that she doesn't like. She casts herself in a perpetual self-righteous light, even when committing the exact same sins (on the opposite side of the coin) as the characters she condemns.
- Barbara wishes old people were dead. She self-righteously and intentionally meddles in other peoples' lives because she is convinced she knows what is best for them. And, she intentionally causes grave injury to others for her own personal benefit. And this is all glorified as empowerment.
- The writing is articulate and neutral enough to discern your own meaning from the happenings. Both sides, liberal and conservative, can enjoy the book for their own reasons and pull their own truths from it. There is something in the writing that remains deeply pleasant. It presents an idealized picture of married life (especially entertaining guests) and being genuinely interesting in others (but also using them for story ideas and entertainment purposes).
- I didn't connect with Barbara or understand her personality or incongruous reactions, but I appreciated the pleasantness of the novel.
Note: A bit of research seems to indicate this is indeed a real historical author and I intend to read more of her work.
After reading my first DE Stevenson novel and enjoying the comfort of an old world cozy novel, I dove into another. Her writing continues to feel very modern and I wondered if this was a publishing hoax and they really were written in modern times. This question further burrowed into my mind because (while not crossing lines into action) there were a lot of modern-day (post-christian) worldviews and values expressed through the novel. Everything is subtle and can be ignored, if you just want to enjoy a clean and enjoyable novel. But slightly veiled problematic issues are also easy to locate, if you are watching for them.
- I was very confused by the wife/husband interaction. The wife grows bold and pretends to leave, then the husband magically does everything she wants. So the life lesson for women is to manipulate men by pretending not to care about them? Throughout the book, there were continued themes of 'managing' men, which stuck me as high disrespectful to the dignity of the human person. Bad behavior in this regard was glorified and Miss Buncle justified herself and casts herself as a victim with the ends (getting her own way) justifying the means. It felt like the very modern view that everything explicitly masculine is problematic.
- Continued charming tone in the novel lulling me into enjoyment.
- Alice in Wonderland feel at some points. Meant to be whimsical, but in reality very confusing.
- Reference to ghosts.
- Heroine is not a nice or good person. Yet, she seems clearly intended as a positive example of a woman who is 'empowered' to win at the expense of others.
- Overall, the books seems to celebrate misbehavior (in the children, for example) and breaking social norms (Barabara's actions, for example) and vilify those who want to preserve order, while not acknowledging the tremendous order, peace and stability enjoyed by everyone in the existing environment. This book contains quietly subversive and destructive ideas. They are still a long ways off from the cliff of disaster and social breakdown, but they are headed toward it oblivious and merry.
- It is presented as a 'cute' idea that a child is possessed by demons.
- The nanny appears and word vomits multiple story lines in a multiple page monologue. :-0
- Barbara sympathizes with characters once damage is done, but she encourages their personal destruction while it is in progress. She seems to enjoy the drama without acknowledging its connection to the pain she later witnesses.
- Barbara is very judgement of a certain moral failing she sees in others (intolerance). She feels justified in being rude to characters that she doesn't like. She casts herself in a perpetual self-righteous light, even when committing the exact same sins (on the opposite side of the coin) as the characters she condemns.
- Barbara wishes old people were dead. She self-righteously and intentionally meddles in other peoples' lives because she is convinced she knows what is best for them. And, she intentionally causes grave injury to others for her own personal benefit. And this is all glorified as empowerment.
- The writing is articulate and neutral enough to discern your own meaning from the happenings. Both sides, liberal and conservative, can enjoy the book for their own reasons and pull their own truths from it. There is something in the writing that remains deeply pleasant. It presents an idealized picture of married life (especially entertaining guests) and being genuinely interesting in others (but also using them for story ideas and entertainment purposes).
- I didn't connect with Barbara or understand her personality or incongruous reactions, but I appreciated the pleasantness of the novel.
Note: A bit of research seems to indicate this is indeed a real historical author and I intend to read more of her work.
January 16, 2020
What a delightful story. Miss Buncle is a strange yet intuitive woman. She is not your typical heroine, but how she reads people and interacts with them is precious. This old-fashioned storytelling is wonderful and I wish there were more of it today.
March 16, 2022
A book about a woman who wrote a book about a woman who wrote a book in which the author roasts herself. I can’t even! It’s brilliant, hysterically funny, and satire worthy of Mark Twain. I smiled all the way through it. This is writing! So glad there are more Miss Buncle Books!
November 21, 2021
What a great book, just what I’d been wishing for.
January 7, 2024
Another charming Miss Buncle book.
August 2, 2025
Simply enjoyable start to finish.
November 10, 2021
It took me forever but I finished Miss Buncle! What a fun book. Perfect for readers who like stories set in the English village and sly humor.
January 5, 2014
When I read strongly positive reviews of the two new books shown below, I decided to get them from interlibrary loan. To my surprise, the books came as shown above in one volume; these two “new” books are actually reprints of this one written in 1965. (I took the photos below at our local bookstore –without purchase –so you could see what they look like now.)
Are you reading something challenging, difficult or depressing and need a cheerfully innocuous antidote? Or maybe you want a pleasant “hug of a read” to relish each night before going to sleep? Then these are for you. Finding a light read that isn’t either degrading, vapid or altogether frivolous is not easy, but these light books are grounded in solid values and lucid perceptions. They are delightful in a quiet, modest way.
Miss Buncle is a lovely character full of innocence, bland wit, keen observation, and a good heart. She finds adventure right where she is in her daily life. These books are amusing without being laugh out-loud funny. There is purity and simplicity here so rare in books these days, which is very welcome indeed.
I liked both of these books and give them four stars, but as is so often the case, I liked the first one better than the second.
Are you reading something challenging, difficult or depressing and need a cheerfully innocuous antidote? Or maybe you want a pleasant “hug of a read” to relish each night before going to sleep? Then these are for you. Finding a light read that isn’t either degrading, vapid or altogether frivolous is not easy, but these light books are grounded in solid values and lucid perceptions. They are delightful in a quiet, modest way.
Miss Buncle is a lovely character full of innocence, bland wit, keen observation, and a good heart. She finds adventure right where she is in her daily life. These books are amusing without being laugh out-loud funny. There is purity and simplicity here so rare in books these days, which is very welcome indeed.
I liked both of these books and give them four stars, but as is so often the case, I liked the first one better than the second.
September 11, 2013
Miss Barbara Buncle is a delightful woman of a certain age, insightful, a little sarcastic and outfitted by nature with a brainy, sly humor. Watching her neighbors interactions, she decides to write a book about them to fill her slowly diminishing bank account. Impossible developments follow....The books are as clever written as it's main character. I always love the book in a book stories....
These take you back to 'simpler' times, yet they feel more sophisticated...
And best of all, nothing much has changed since then....you will laugh out loud at the similarities!
These take you back to 'simpler' times, yet they feel more sophisticated...
And best of all, nothing much has changed since then....you will laugh out loud at the similarities!
October 30, 2012
3.5 stars. It was a pleasure to go back temporarily to a time where you can need to pinch pennies yet still have 2 grooms, 3 maids and a cook! It would drive me crazy to stay in this era, but these 2 books were such a pleasantly enjoyable anachronism that it felt like I was reading fantasy or sci-fi (that sense of otherness).
My firsts by D.E. Stevenson - enjoyed - will probably try to find more.
My firsts by D.E. Stevenson - enjoyed - will probably try to find more.
July 24, 2011
The character development was much more rich in Miss Buncle Married, but did not compare to the wonderfully clever ending in Miss Buncle's Book. I would give Miss Buncle's Book 5 stars and Miss Buncle Married 4 stars, because I just didn't like how it ended. Both were very fast reads. There were a few British words that I would have liked a glossary for, but over all worth reading in my opinion.
September 13, 2013
This was charming and light-hearted, but I found it fell flat in places. Also I couldn't help feeling sorry for some of Miss Buncle's "victims." Even the best of us don't want our souls turned inside out and bared for the world to see.
Not quite the Miss Read-esque story I was hoping for, but still an enjoyable read.
Not quite the Miss Read-esque story I was hoping for, but still an enjoyable read.
May 25, 2014
This publication contains two Miss Buncle novels. The first one "Miss Buncle's Book" is a charming delight to read. I would rate it at 4Stars+.
The second novel "Miss Buncle Married" starts out quite as intriguing, if day-to-day life in an English village can be called intriguing, as the first novel, but eventually devolves into pure sop.
The second novel "Miss Buncle Married" starts out quite as intriguing, if day-to-day life in an English village can be called intriguing, as the first novel, but eventually devolves into pure sop.
July 7, 2014
The two Miss Buncle books (Miss Buncle's Book and Miss Buncle Married) are the most delightful and enjoyable books I've read in a long time. I would give them five stars for how much I enjoyed them, but I reserve five stars for high literary achievement (whatever I mean by that).
May 9, 2013
Oh, how I loved these books! Definitely checking out more by this author.
December 23, 2013
Clever, cute story about a woman who writes about her neighbors. The story revolves around their hunt to discover the author and punish him/her. Delightful!
February 28, 2015
Persephone Edition.
Read
October 23, 2012Miss Buncle was the first DE I read, and it is a wonderful book.
April 5, 2017
This was an enjoyable journey into a time long passed. I really needed to read something uncomplicated and old-fashioned, for lack of a better term. Next up is the adventures of Bertie Wooster and Jeeves!
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews