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The Swiss Summer
Worn down by postwar London life, forty-something Lucy Cottrell finds herself accepting a surprise invitation to spend the summer at a Swiss chalet, accompanied by the very practical and undemonstrative Freda Blandish, whom she barely knows. The two are charged with inventorying the contents of the chalet, but distractions soon abound, first from Freda's slightly woebegone daughter Astra and her hoity-toity friend Kay, then from Lucy's godson Bertram and his friend Peter. Utta, the housekeeper, determined to prevent any changes to the chalet she loves, and a challenging paying guest add complications, as do clashing personalities, misunderstandings, and budding romance-not to mention a bit of Alpine climbing.
Packed with good humour, lush scenery, and irresistible charm, The Swiss Summer, first published in 1951, is one of Stella Gibbons' most delightful novels. This new edition features an introduction by twentieth-century women's historian Elizabeth Crawford.
Packed with good humour, lush scenery, and irresistible charm, The Swiss Summer, first published in 1951, is one of Stella Gibbons' most delightful novels. This new edition features an introduction by twentieth-century women's historian Elizabeth Crawford.
330 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1951
43 people are currently reading
443 people want to read
About the author
Stella Gibbons
57 books412 followersStella Dorothea Gibbons was an English novelist, journalist, poet and short-story writer.
Her first novel, Cold Comfort Farm, won the Femina Vie Heureuse Prize for 1933. A satire and parody of the pessimistic ruralism of Thomas Hardy, his followers and especially Precious Bain by Mary Webb -the "loam and lovechild" genre, as some called it, Cold Comfort Farm introduces a self-confident young woman, quite self-consciously modern, pragmatic and optimistic, into the grim, fate-bound and dark rural scene those novelists tended to portray.
Her first novel, Cold Comfort Farm, won the Femina Vie Heureuse Prize for 1933. A satire and parody of the pessimistic ruralism of Thomas Hardy, his followers and especially Precious Bain by Mary Webb -the "loam and lovechild" genre, as some called it, Cold Comfort Farm introduces a self-confident young woman, quite self-consciously modern, pragmatic and optimistic, into the grim, fate-bound and dark rural scene those novelists tended to portray.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
May 15, 2021
I was disappointed in this book. I definitely went into the book wanting to like it, because I had heard such good things about Stella Gibbon’s oeuvre, and I had read and loved her ‘Cold Comfort Farm’ (1932). But this was 249 pages of mostly dry reading of characters most of whom I could give a hoot about. I realize in novels there might be unlovable characters…I liked Lucy and maybe Astra…but for the other some 8 characters or so no. I just didn’t care about them one way or another. 🙁
This book’s theme reminded me of ‘The Enchanted April’ by Elizabeth von Arnim (1922). Lucy, in the present book, goes on a summer vacation to a Swiss chalet and leaves her husband behind in England. And Lucy is kind to everyone she meets, much like Lottie Wilkins was in ‘The Enchanted April’. And at first it seemed like Gibbons would tell her story from the eyes of Lucy but at times there were chapters in which Lucy was not involved at all. Some chapters were tediously long about the flora and fauna and topography of the Swiss mountain area in which the chalet was nestled. That’s OK for a bit but it just dragged on and on in different parts of the book. Everything pretty much dragged on and on in the book. Only infrequently was the book interesting (to me). 🙁
Something that was super-bizarre was one would be reading about a certain character and Gibbons would insert two or three sentences telling the reader what would happen to this person some 20 years hence. It was like a bombshell, but I don’t know why she revealed such things when the full story of that character in the time period in which the ’The Swiss Summer’ took place had yet to be revealed. After the two or three sentences she would proceed on with ‘The Swiss Summer’ story, as if those two or three sentences had not been there. I know I am not explaining myself well…I was shocked about learning what would be the fate of Characters X, Y and Z many years in the future when well over half the story in ‘The Swiss Summer’ had yet to be told. I’m not sure I liked that element of the book. 🙁
I’m sorry to say this was one of those books that I just wanted to be done with. I read it in two sittings not because I enjoyed it, but because I try to avoid DNFs — in part because I don’t think it is fair to write a bad review of a book that one does not finish. I’ve been surprised every now and then where a book I was contemplating of not finishing actually turned out to be quite good.
I have read that Stella Gibbons was distressed that people loved Cold Comfort Farm more than some of her other works that she placed above Cold Comfort Farms in terms of how she would rank her books. Well, I have several more books of Gibbons on my library shelves and I will not give up on her, but when comparing this book to Cold Comfort Farm, the latter book wins by a country mile (or kilometer depending on what country you are from! 😐
Reviews:
• http://cosybooks.blogspot.com/2021/01...
• brief mention is made of the book and how the blogger liked it along with a comment from Stella Gibbons’ nephew, Reggie Oliver (he wrote a biography of his aunt) that I would have to agree with: http://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.co...
This book’s theme reminded me of ‘The Enchanted April’ by Elizabeth von Arnim (1922). Lucy, in the present book, goes on a summer vacation to a Swiss chalet and leaves her husband behind in England. And Lucy is kind to everyone she meets, much like Lottie Wilkins was in ‘The Enchanted April’. And at first it seemed like Gibbons would tell her story from the eyes of Lucy but at times there were chapters in which Lucy was not involved at all. Some chapters were tediously long about the flora and fauna and topography of the Swiss mountain area in which the chalet was nestled. That’s OK for a bit but it just dragged on and on in different parts of the book. Everything pretty much dragged on and on in the book. Only infrequently was the book interesting (to me). 🙁
Something that was super-bizarre was one would be reading about a certain character and Gibbons would insert two or three sentences telling the reader what would happen to this person some 20 years hence. It was like a bombshell, but I don’t know why she revealed such things when the full story of that character in the time period in which the ’The Swiss Summer’ took place had yet to be revealed. After the two or three sentences she would proceed on with ‘The Swiss Summer’ story, as if those two or three sentences had not been there. I know I am not explaining myself well…I was shocked about learning what would be the fate of Characters X, Y and Z many years in the future when well over half the story in ‘The Swiss Summer’ had yet to be told. I’m not sure I liked that element of the book. 🙁
I’m sorry to say this was one of those books that I just wanted to be done with. I read it in two sittings not because I enjoyed it, but because I try to avoid DNFs — in part because I don’t think it is fair to write a bad review of a book that one does not finish. I’ve been surprised every now and then where a book I was contemplating of not finishing actually turned out to be quite good.
I have read that Stella Gibbons was distressed that people loved Cold Comfort Farm more than some of her other works that she placed above Cold Comfort Farms in terms of how she would rank her books. Well, I have several more books of Gibbons on my library shelves and I will not give up on her, but when comparing this book to Cold Comfort Farm, the latter book wins by a country mile (or kilometer depending on what country you are from! 😐
Reviews:
• http://cosybooks.blogspot.com/2021/01...
• brief mention is made of the book and how the blogger liked it along with a comment from Stella Gibbons’ nephew, Reggie Oliver (he wrote a biography of his aunt) that I would have to agree with: http://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.co...
January 11, 2021
Very good to see this brought back into print. She does create such interesting characters, and they rarely do quite what you expect them to.
Lucy is surprised and delighted to be offered three months at a Swiss chalet to help Lady Dagleish's companion with an inventory of the place. Lady D wants interesting and entertaining accounts of her stay there and tells her she can invite who she likes. The letters prove disappointing because Freda Blandish has invited her own guests and asked Lucy not to tell Lady D about them. Unknown to Lucy, she is caught in a bit of a battle between Lady D and Freda. Freda had been promised that the chalet would be left to get in Lady D's will, but dark hints have been made recently that perhaps she'd leave it to Lucy afterall. A series of guests with clashing personalities and a very grumpy housekeeper, with some mountain climbing all add to the entertainment here.
The novel gets off to a slow start but I got sucked into it about halfway through. It did make me yearn for a holiday, preferably to the Swiss Alps, but armchair travel is the best we can hope for at the moment and this certainly didn't disappoint on that front.
Lucy is surprised and delighted to be offered three months at a Swiss chalet to help Lady Dagleish's companion with an inventory of the place. Lady D wants interesting and entertaining accounts of her stay there and tells her she can invite who she likes. The letters prove disappointing because Freda Blandish has invited her own guests and asked Lucy not to tell Lady D about them. Unknown to Lucy, she is caught in a bit of a battle between Lady D and Freda. Freda had been promised that the chalet would be left to get in Lady D's will, but dark hints have been made recently that perhaps she'd leave it to Lucy afterall. A series of guests with clashing personalities and a very grumpy housekeeper, with some mountain climbing all add to the entertainment here.
The novel gets off to a slow start but I got sucked into it about halfway through. It did make me yearn for a holiday, preferably to the Swiss Alps, but armchair travel is the best we can hope for at the moment and this certainly didn't disappoint on that front.
March 2, 2024
Lucy is a well-off middle-aged Englishwoman who gets a very The Enchanted April sort of escape from the realities of her comfortable but dull life, being offered an unexpected chance to accompany the paid companion to the eccentric Lady Dagleish to spend a couple months taking an inventory at the latter's Swiss Chalet -- beloved by Lady D's deceased mountain climbing husband, but not visited by the old lady since long before the war. The Summer starts out being everything Lucy hoped for and more, but things get complicated when it turns out that the companion, Mrs. Blandish, has a scheme to turn a profit by having paying guests at the Chalet, unbeknownst to her employer. Lucy has also invited guests (with permission) and the two parties don't mix well. Meanwhile, Utta, an ancient Swiss peasant who's been the chalet's caretaker for decades and cooks for them hates them all.
It was a diverting read, and I particularly loved the descriptions of the Swiss Alps -- both the scenery, and all the 1950s era tourism. The people, unfortunately, were not much fun to read about, even Lucy palls by the end. One likes her at first because she finds the mountains so beautiful, and because she's kind to Mrs. Blandish's gawky daughter, but Lucy's timid character undergoes no development -- if anything, she's even more feeble at the end than when she started. . Midway, the book shifts its focus onto the four young people at the chalet and their romantic entanglements, which gives the story an odd vintage young adult feel.
This is the fourth book by Stella Gibbons which I've read, and reluctantly, because I did love the premise and the Swiss setting, I have to say it's the one I would rank lowest. It feels like she didn't really know what she wanted the book to be, and just threw some characters together to watch them to be spiteful towards each other. In this respect, Swiss Summer reminds me a bit of the adult novels of Richmal Crompton, which I don't mean as a compliment.
It was a diverting read, and I particularly loved the descriptions of the Swiss Alps -- both the scenery, and all the 1950s era tourism. The people, unfortunately, were not much fun to read about, even Lucy palls by the end. One likes her at first because she finds the mountains so beautiful, and because she's kind to Mrs. Blandish's gawky daughter, but Lucy's timid character undergoes no development -- if anything, she's even more feeble at the end than when she started. . Midway, the book shifts its focus onto the four young people at the chalet and their romantic entanglements, which gives the story an odd vintage young adult feel.
This is the fourth book by Stella Gibbons which I've read, and reluctantly, because I did love the premise and the Swiss setting, I have to say it's the one I would rank lowest. It feels like she didn't really know what she wanted the book to be, and just threw some characters together to watch them to be spiteful towards each other. In this respect, Swiss Summer reminds me a bit of the adult novels of Richmal Crompton, which I don't mean as a compliment.
June 23, 2025
3.75 🌟 An over-the-top and humorous summer vacation in Switzerland for the "guests" of Lady Dagleish. This novel reminded me so much of The Benefactress (also mentioned in the book!) and All the Dogs of my Life (with a hint of The Enchanted April) by Elizabeth von Arnim.
Although I don't always enjoy slightly ridiculous stories like this, The Swiss Summer just made it on the right side of the line for me. Here are some of the scenes that I enjoyed or stood out to me:
❊ Train compartment sleeping and trying to use the bathroom 😱
❊ Cool cafe with red and white checked tablecloth, enjoying an apricot ice
❊ Steep and exhausting hills to climb
❊ Grumpy and correct chalet caretaker, Utta
❊ Power struggle between Freda Blandish and Lucy Cottrell
❊ Laugh out loud situations, especially with Freda’s daughter, Astra
❊ The ending!
If I hadn't already read Elizabeth von Arnim's novels listed above so recently, I think I would have liked this book even more. It was almost as if I was rereading a book I liked too soon. The Swiss Summer had a tiny bit too much chaos for me to fully love it, but I'm definitely glad I read it.
After reading 3+ Stella Gibbons books, I have to admit that her stories are not quite my favorites. There's a bit too many stressful situations and crazy characters included in the plots that cause me to feel exhausted while reading. (Though I know, for some readers, her novels are very funny and highly enjoyable.) Let me know what you think!
Although I don't always enjoy slightly ridiculous stories like this, The Swiss Summer just made it on the right side of the line for me. Here are some of the scenes that I enjoyed or stood out to me:
❊ Train compartment sleeping and trying to use the bathroom 😱
❊ Cool cafe with red and white checked tablecloth, enjoying an apricot ice
❊ Steep and exhausting hills to climb
❊ Grumpy and correct chalet caretaker, Utta
❊ Power struggle between Freda Blandish and Lucy Cottrell
❊ Laugh out loud situations, especially with Freda’s daughter, Astra
❊ The ending!
If I hadn't already read Elizabeth von Arnim's novels listed above so recently, I think I would have liked this book even more. It was almost as if I was rereading a book I liked too soon. The Swiss Summer had a tiny bit too much chaos for me to fully love it, but I'm definitely glad I read it.
After reading 3+ Stella Gibbons books, I have to admit that her stories are not quite my favorites. There's a bit too many stressful situations and crazy characters included in the plots that cause me to feel exhausted while reading. (Though I know, for some readers, her novels are very funny and highly enjoyable.) Let me know what you think!
May 15, 2024
This observant little novel is not particularly ambitious but it is enriched by a deep love of place.
Forty-something Lucy Cottrell is invited on a whim by a rich old lady to spend the summer at her chalet high in the Swiss Alps. The old lady can’t travel anymore but is sending her companion, Mrs. Blandish, there for the summer to prepare an inventory of its contents. Mrs. Blandish has her own plans for the place and isn’t thrilled to have Lucy foisted on her, but she knows better than to argue. So from the start they are grudging companions with competing interests.
From the moment of her arrival, Lucy is awed and captivated by the house and its awe-inspiring surroundings. Less congenial are the various other guests that Mrs. Blandish has invited without telling her employer, and Mrs. Blandish wastes no time coercing Lucy into keeping her secret. Lucy had obtained permission to have two young men, recent college grads, to stay for part of the summer, and an ill-assorted crowd is gathered, leading to some dramas.
The story takes place a few years after World War II, and I enjoyed learning more about what Europe looked and felt like in those days. England is mired in austerity, France is still blighted, and the contrast with Switzerland, which stayed neutral during the conflict, is striking. All the characters revel in the ready availability of good food and luxury goods, an experience so far removed from the constraints of life at home.
Gibbons often takes time out from the story to revel in the landscape and the weather, which both come to feel like characters in the story. Each chapter’s title is that of a flower or other plant, which then gets woven into the narrative to one degree or another. Some readers may find the intrusions of nature tiresome, but for me these descriptions were so full of love of place that I looked forward to them. The human story has its charms but felt tiny amid all that sublimity.
There’s always something a little flat about a storyline centered on a vacation—it’s hard to give it a thematic shape when its boundaries are purely temporal. (I feel the same way about novels that encompass a person’s entire life and end when the person dies.) But I enjoyed this sojourn in the Alps and found the characters enough to sustain interest.
Forty-something Lucy Cottrell is invited on a whim by a rich old lady to spend the summer at her chalet high in the Swiss Alps. The old lady can’t travel anymore but is sending her companion, Mrs. Blandish, there for the summer to prepare an inventory of its contents. Mrs. Blandish has her own plans for the place and isn’t thrilled to have Lucy foisted on her, but she knows better than to argue. So from the start they are grudging companions with competing interests.
From the moment of her arrival, Lucy is awed and captivated by the house and its awe-inspiring surroundings. Less congenial are the various other guests that Mrs. Blandish has invited without telling her employer, and Mrs. Blandish wastes no time coercing Lucy into keeping her secret. Lucy had obtained permission to have two young men, recent college grads, to stay for part of the summer, and an ill-assorted crowd is gathered, leading to some dramas.
The story takes place a few years after World War II, and I enjoyed learning more about what Europe looked and felt like in those days. England is mired in austerity, France is still blighted, and the contrast with Switzerland, which stayed neutral during the conflict, is striking. All the characters revel in the ready availability of good food and luxury goods, an experience so far removed from the constraints of life at home.
Gibbons often takes time out from the story to revel in the landscape and the weather, which both come to feel like characters in the story. Each chapter’s title is that of a flower or other plant, which then gets woven into the narrative to one degree or another. Some readers may find the intrusions of nature tiresome, but for me these descriptions were so full of love of place that I looked forward to them. The human story has its charms but felt tiny amid all that sublimity.
There’s always something a little flat about a storyline centered on a vacation—it’s hard to give it a thematic shape when its boundaries are purely temporal. (I feel the same way about novels that encompass a person’s entire life and end when the person dies.) But I enjoyed this sojourn in the Alps and found the characters enough to sustain interest.
August 1, 2024
Huh. That was different than I expected. I didn’t love it but I liked it. The ending is satisfying too. I particularly loved Lucy and Astra and their friendship. I liked the two young men too and how the dynamic changed so much with the new guests at the chalet. I didn’t like Mrs Blandish at all but that’s rather the point. The storytelling was slightly uneven. It’s all third person but we lost sight of Lucy in the middle a bit to focus on the two younger girls, Astra and Kay, for a while. I found Utta’s sections to be less interesting in general but I did like the sense of what it was like to be a peasant in the alps. I enjoyed Utta’s family. I thought Stella Gibbons captured the generational differences well between Utta and her grandson, Mrs Blandish and Astra, and the middle aged people v. the young people. We get hints of what will happen to Lucy, Astra, and Mrs Blandish, so it was interesting that Kay’s story is left more unfinished.
I’m glad I read this though I’m not sure how quick I’d be to pick it up again.
I’m glad I read this though I’m not sure how quick I’d be to pick it up again.
August 21, 2025
The 3 stars for this book is mainly for Gibbons’ nature writing which is superb. I felt like I had been transported to the Swiss Alps. The lack of a higher rating is because the characters in this were incredibly unlikeable. Even the ones I did somewhat like had aspects of weakness or boastfulness or something to wither my feelings. And while the ending was in some ways satisfying, something about it just left me wanting.
August 28, 2022
I haven't been able to start my next book for thinking about this one!
Stella Gibbons is famous for her other works, and this was not one I'd come across before. So it's a first read by the author for me, and my goodness I'm so glad I found it.
The story is very simple, but the narrative, the detail and the wonderful descriptions of the Swiss countryside are almost overwhelming. Set in the early 1950s, when I was born, it brings back with a startled feeling of distaste some of my recollections of the time. Britain then was another world, compared to today and compared, as the author does, to its pre-war society - a gentler and less complicated generation far removed from their highly critical, socially aware and unpleasant progeny.
An outstanding read, 5 stars and highly recommended. Would I read it again? Yes, and probably again...
Stella Gibbons is famous for her other works, and this was not one I'd come across before. So it's a first read by the author for me, and my goodness I'm so glad I found it.
The story is very simple, but the narrative, the detail and the wonderful descriptions of the Swiss countryside are almost overwhelming. Set in the early 1950s, when I was born, it brings back with a startled feeling of distaste some of my recollections of the time. Britain then was another world, compared to today and compared, as the author does, to its pre-war society - a gentler and less complicated generation far removed from their highly critical, socially aware and unpleasant progeny.
An outstanding read, 5 stars and highly recommended. Would I read it again? Yes, and probably again...
August 20, 2025
A fun read, but full of characters who did not quite ring true to me. Our protagonist, Lucy, was delightful all the time, but most of the side characters decided to spend the whole summer in Switzerland while...hating mountain views????? I lived in the Rocky Mountains for five years and never met anyone who couldn't appreciate it. (Living in the Midwest is another story, you have to have taste to love the prairies.) Most of the characters were unlikeable, but they have to be interesting to be worthy of a part in the story, and alas, there were few interesting characters in this particular book.
Lucy wants to spend her summer in Switzerland enjoying the air, hiking, and views; she worries that others will spoil it by their fuddy-duddiness. Unfortunately, the fuddy-duddies spoil the book, too. I liked how things turned out at the end, but I wouldn't even really recommend this book to someone traveling to Switzerland unless they already like Stella Gibbons. This was my first by her, and I'll read more, but she clearly does not share the affection for her characters I like to have in my novels of this type.
Lucy wants to spend her summer in Switzerland enjoying the air, hiking, and views; she worries that others will spoil it by their fuddy-duddiness. Unfortunately, the fuddy-duddies spoil the book, too. I liked how things turned out at the end, but I wouldn't even really recommend this book to someone traveling to Switzerland unless they already like Stella Gibbons. This was my first by her, and I'll read more, but she clearly does not share the affection for her characters I like to have in my novels of this type.
June 7, 2022
This review first appeared on my blog - https://nsfordwriter.com - on 7th June 2022.
Imagine Elizabeth von Arnim's The Enchanted April, set in the 1950s instead of the 20s and in Switzerland instead of Italy, with added post-war social turbulence. The result is The Swiss Summer. I enjoyed this book; there was so much wonderfully observed detail that I felt I'd been on holiday and didn't want to come home.
The story follows a mismatched group of English people who end up living together in a chalet, resented by an elderly Swiss woman who has been looking after the chalet for her owner, an aristocrat who never visits any more. There isn't much of a plot, as the focus is on the scenery, tourism and the peasant way of life. The latter is certainly romanticised and seem to be a different species who have nothing in common with the tourists they serve and loathe. I feel that the book is a valuable document of holidays in a neutral country, the sense of class erosion at the time and the new generation of young adults who were children during the war.
Mostly I found the narrative interesting and it has the occasional weird flash-forwards (if that's a thing) that can be found in Gibbons' later work and which deny a happy ending to certain characters.
A book that deserves to be better-known, I think.
Imagine Elizabeth von Arnim's The Enchanted April, set in the 1950s instead of the 20s and in Switzerland instead of Italy, with added post-war social turbulence. The result is The Swiss Summer. I enjoyed this book; there was so much wonderfully observed detail that I felt I'd been on holiday and didn't want to come home.
The story follows a mismatched group of English people who end up living together in a chalet, resented by an elderly Swiss woman who has been looking after the chalet for her owner, an aristocrat who never visits any more. There isn't much of a plot, as the focus is on the scenery, tourism and the peasant way of life. The latter is certainly romanticised and seem to be a different species who have nothing in common with the tourists they serve and loathe. I feel that the book is a valuable document of holidays in a neutral country, the sense of class erosion at the time and the new generation of young adults who were children during the war.
Mostly I found the narrative interesting and it has the occasional weird flash-forwards (if that's a thing) that can be found in Gibbons' later work and which deny a happy ending to certain characters.
A book that deserves to be better-known, I think.
August 24, 2022
I love this book so much, it made me laugh and cry and it was fabulous to read. Stella Gibbons is so good with her characters, some you love immediately, others are so annoying. She pokes at the English abroad and their awful manners and expectations. "But what I cannot bear, thought Lucy, are the manners of my fellow travellers..............I am a little ashamed to be English."
The description of Lucy's journey by train to Switzerland and then her arrival at the chalet is perfection! And I enjoyed so much her descriptions of the Swiss Alps and the various trips. It was all so vivid.
Again, a poignant end as with The Woods in Winter. A book I will definitely reread.
The description of Lucy's journey by train to Switzerland and then her arrival at the chalet is perfection! And I enjoyed so much her descriptions of the Swiss Alps and the various trips. It was all so vivid.
Again, a poignant end as with The Woods in Winter. A book I will definitely reread.
September 4, 2022
What happens when a group of middle class people end up in a beautiful Swiss chalet for the summer? Petty arguments and romantic entanglements!
There is not much I can really say about this book other than it is a wonderful exercise in Gibbons's style. It takes the well fleshed out characters in a rural setting and gives the reader the experience of being a fly on the wall, watching as their grievances and their amorous escapades unfold.
I would say that this is not a novel for anyone who is not on board with the light, strolling narrative Gibbons often employs, or for anyone who wants more sex, or more conflict. it's just a beautiful story with a glorious location. More than anything else I think I just adored the descriptions of the alpine scenery.
There is not much I can really say about this book other than it is a wonderful exercise in Gibbons's style. It takes the well fleshed out characters in a rural setting and gives the reader the experience of being a fly on the wall, watching as their grievances and their amorous escapades unfold.
I would say that this is not a novel for anyone who is not on board with the light, strolling narrative Gibbons often employs, or for anyone who wants more sex, or more conflict. it's just a beautiful story with a glorious location. More than anything else I think I just adored the descriptions of the alpine scenery.
September 14, 2021
Having liked, but not loved, Cold Comfort Farm, I was a little unsure about trying one of Stella Gibbons other novels. Happily, The Swiss Summer, first published in 1951, was a delightful escape. If you enjoy mountain scenery, don’t mind poking fun at tourists, and enjoy a mix of characters ranging from sympathetic to downright awful, this is a good choice.
February 23, 2021
Just a few thoughts - I liked this, but not as much as I had hoped.
Gibbons is a master at the character sketch of realistic, complex and FLAWED women, though. Man, did I not like Freda Blandish.
Gibbons is a master at the character sketch of realistic, complex and FLAWED women, though. Man, did I not like Freda Blandish.
February 28, 2021
Clearly a lot of love here for nature, the mountains, Switzerland itself. Not so much for British tourists misbehaving (Gibbons can be quite sharp-tongued about them).
August 16, 2025
A group of ladies on summer holiday at a Swiss chalet, circa 1950 -- this was an amusing yet poignant look back at more simple and innocent times when the travelling was easy and metal detectors weren't involved. The domestic rivalries, romances and misadventures were carefully and elegantly drawn, the descriptions of the Swiss alps and countryside were spellbinding at times, and I loved the characters: the bossy lady of the house, her clumsy yet vulnerable teen-age daughter, the dour housemaid, the dingle brained guest who ran out of money and the poised Englishwoman who kept everyone on an even keel. There was an oh-so-satisfying twist of events at the end that left me cheering. Loved this, highly recommend it.
July 5, 2015
Not one of the top non-Cold Comfort Farm novels: quite pleasant, a bit slow-starting, a bit meandering - there are some nice snarky character vignettes but some of them come over as a bit sour.
August 13, 2023
Lucy Cottrell is a happily married but worn out, forty something woman living in post-war Britain when she meets Lady Dalgleish for the first time, through a friend. She finds herself being invited to spend 3 months in Switzerland with Lady D's companion, Mrs Blandish and together they are to take an inventory of the contents of Lady D's house. But Mrs Blandish is not too keen on having any help. First of all she wants to make sure she is left the chalet in Lady D's will and wants no one as competition in this, and secondly she has a secret she needs to keep from Lady D. She is using the house as guest house to make extra income and Lady Dagleish knows nothing about it. Once Lucy finds out about this, she is already in Switzerland and so she agrees to keep quiet and sets about enjoying the food, the views, the flowers and the hiking.
The first arrival is a surprise visit from Astra, Mrs Blandish's daughter. She has a weak character and is easily bullied by everyone but makes a friend in Lucy. Then the first paying guests arriving - the Price-Whartons, friends of Mrs Blandish. Astra looks up to the daughter Kay, but Kay is selfish and self centred and not very nice to Astra.
Lucy's nephew Bertram and his friend Peter also arrive (there with Lady Daglish knowledge - she seems to want Lucy to entertain her with some kind of scintillating love story - but these letters hardly feature in the book and the love story is weak). Kay and Peter do indeed fall in love, but Kay fights her feelings as she feels Peter is not good enough for her (he has no money) and this whole plot line is very unsatisfactory and unnecessary. Astra and Bertram also fall in love, Bertram becomes Astra's first boyfriend and she blossoms in his company.
Meanwhile the local housekeeper Utta senses that Lady Daglish is being kept in the dark, and keeps threatening to write to her about the guests - but as she can’t speak English she has to convince her grandson to help, who is not keen to get involved.
Miss Propter is the final guest to stay at the house. Previously unknown to Mrs Blandish she turns out to be the undoing of the whole situation. After an argument about the bill, when she gets home to England, she visits Lady D and tells her everything. Lady D then rewrites her will and on the same day, dies by falling down the stairs. She leaves the Swiss house to Utta and some money to Mrs Blandish, which although is not the house she was expecting, she is able to buy an investment property with it and starts another guest house. Lucy gets nothing - but no surprise there she hardly knew Lady D.
Ultimately I did not enjoy this very much mainly because I felt it is far too long and the plot is very weak. I did however really enjoy the setting, and the descriptions of the area and I guess I was also interested in who would eventually get the house when Lady D died which was what kept me reading. I also liked the way Gibbons deals with endings in the book. With about 150 pages to go, she starts giving a simple summary letting the reader know what happens to the main characters in the future. For example Lucy is childless and longs to be a mother - we are told she has a daughter Pearl. Astra longs for love and a purpose in life - and we are told she stays with Bertram but he is dying and is leaving her, and that they have been working together in an African orphanage.
The first arrival is a surprise visit from Astra, Mrs Blandish's daughter. She has a weak character and is easily bullied by everyone but makes a friend in Lucy. Then the first paying guests arriving - the Price-Whartons, friends of Mrs Blandish. Astra looks up to the daughter Kay, but Kay is selfish and self centred and not very nice to Astra.
Lucy's nephew Bertram and his friend Peter also arrive (there with Lady Daglish knowledge - she seems to want Lucy to entertain her with some kind of scintillating love story - but these letters hardly feature in the book and the love story is weak). Kay and Peter do indeed fall in love, but Kay fights her feelings as she feels Peter is not good enough for her (he has no money) and this whole plot line is very unsatisfactory and unnecessary. Astra and Bertram also fall in love, Bertram becomes Astra's first boyfriend and she blossoms in his company.
Meanwhile the local housekeeper Utta senses that Lady Daglish is being kept in the dark, and keeps threatening to write to her about the guests - but as she can’t speak English she has to convince her grandson to help, who is not keen to get involved.
Miss Propter is the final guest to stay at the house. Previously unknown to Mrs Blandish she turns out to be the undoing of the whole situation. After an argument about the bill, when she gets home to England, she visits Lady D and tells her everything. Lady D then rewrites her will and on the same day, dies by falling down the stairs. She leaves the Swiss house to Utta and some money to Mrs Blandish, which although is not the house she was expecting, she is able to buy an investment property with it and starts another guest house. Lucy gets nothing - but no surprise there she hardly knew Lady D.
Ultimately I did not enjoy this very much mainly because I felt it is far too long and the plot is very weak. I did however really enjoy the setting, and the descriptions of the area and I guess I was also interested in who would eventually get the house when Lady D died which was what kept me reading. I also liked the way Gibbons deals with endings in the book. With about 150 pages to go, she starts giving a simple summary letting the reader know what happens to the main characters in the future. For example Lucy is childless and longs to be a mother - we are told she has a daughter Pearl. Astra longs for love and a purpose in life - and we are told she stays with Bertram but he is dying and is leaving her, and that they have been working together in an African orphanage.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 18, 2023
@thebookmommy has taught me the joy of reading a book in the perfect season or setting; so drop everything and read The Swiss Summer during these sultry, summer days! Or better yet, hop a plane for Switzerland and read it there! This was a lovely, character-driven story, where nothing and everything happens. I was delighted! I loved all the women. This was a lot like Enchanted April (read that, too!) in that it’s a story about women venturing out into the world, written when that was a novelty. I loved how she wrote surprising vignettes along the way about what happens to characters in the future. Such a satisfying read! Packing my bags for Switzerland!
August 15, 2025
A charming story. Its main attraction is, firstly, the beautiful Swiss Alps scenery, and its fresh, cool mountain air, which I could almost feel during my reading.
My complete review: https://klasikfanda.blogspot.com/2025...
My complete review: https://klasikfanda.blogspot.com/2025...
June 30, 2023
This was a rather slow novel for me and not quite as well-written and pleasant to me as other slow novels of its kind. But there did seem to be several unexpected plot twists for all that, and I enjoyed the time period and the glimpse into what tourism in Switzerland looked like in the late 1940s/early 50s, as well as the descriptions of the alpine peaks and flowers. One of the great benefits of reading older books is getting to step into the time capsule of how people were thinking and feeling during that time period. The unexpected reference to Danny Kaye in this book was fun as were the other signs of American influence in Europe after the war.
December 18, 2025
Gibbons is enjoyable, but she isn't grounded in anything, so the fun has no purpose, so she's not ultimately satisfying.
April 25, 2021
Another gem of a book from Stella Gibbons. Perfection!
January 13, 2022
I found this compelling all the way through and the end conflict between Lady D, Miss Propter and Mrs Blandish was very satisfying. Once again, although Lucy was a bit too good to be true in places, Gibbons's characters are utterly realistic. I found the uneasy relationships between the women very believable: the unequal power dynamic between Kay and Astra is sadly all too common while Mrs B and Mrs P-W smoking, gossiping and haggling about money was great too.
Lastly, the Alpine scenery was just wonderful. I could picture the Interlaken setting perfectly (without looking it up!) and the central theme of alpine flowers worked well too.
Lastly, the Alpine scenery was just wonderful. I could picture the Interlaken setting perfectly (without looking it up!) and the central theme of alpine flowers worked well too.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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May 15, 2021Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle
Enjoyed this especially since we visited Grindelwald last summer. Gibbons captured the atmosphere well, along with a slew of entertaining characters, few of them very likeable but all convincingly themselves. Sly glimpses at their future fates are inserted, with one major exception that I think is meant to leave us wondering.
Enjoyed this especially since we visited Grindelwald last summer. Gibbons captured the atmosphere well, along with a slew of entertaining characters, few of them very likeable but all convincingly themselves. Sly glimpses at their future fates are inserted, with one major exception that I think is meant to leave us wondering.
January 18, 2025
Very much of the time it was written - I did enjoy it. Felt like a wonderful way to spend the summer and a way to meet some interesting people. I did like how Gibson told us the future of the younger visitors. Now I need to go to Switzerland. I listened to this via Hoopla and the reader was good.
November 26, 2021
A love letter to the beautiful Berner Oberland.
April 19, 2025
Like, I’m guessing, the vast majority of readers, Cold Comfort Farm was up until now my only experience of Stella Gibbons’ work. And a fine, enchanting experience it was too! Like many female writers of the middle twentieth century – I’m thinking Elizabeth Taylor’s Mrs Palfrey at the Clairmont or Penelope Lively’s Moon Tiger – writers who turn out to be insanely prolific only have one volume still in print a century or so later. As someone who’s fifty-fifty split between actual books and e-books, I have to say the most valuable aspect of the latter is the ease with which out-of-print books – or even less popular in-print books – are available. I honestly assumed Cold Comfort Farm was a one-hit wonder.
I’m obviously biased in my tastes, as everyone is. Since I was a small child I wanted romance in all my books. It’s been over thirty years and I’m still shooketh that the horses in A Horse and His Boy got married BUT NOT TO EACH OTHER. The point-of-view character in CCF, Flora, has a romance that’s mainly off-screen, but still a driving force, added to which she matchmakes other people with a vengeance. Compare this to Astra’s overly-worshipful relationship with Bertram (excuse me, but how does he go from forester to missionary? In the 1950s no less?) or the awful – accurate, but awful – depiction of Kay and Peter’s lustful encounter based on no liking whatsoever. I agree with Kay that it would never work, for reasons that are as much Peter’s fault as her own self-declared mercenary ambition (because of course, as Peter himself validates, this is not yet an era of women making their own way professionally and financially). Yet the text wants me to believe this was both of their ONE CHANCE AT LURVE? They are like, eighteen and twenty-one. Sit DOWN.
It was also interesting to read the contemporaneous discourse on the state of the world. It wasn’t extensive, because it’s not trying to be a social commentary. But in much the same way as a book written in this century would reference whatever was the predominant social media of that year – and date itself quickly because of it, although making up tech is so much worse! – Gibbons reflects on the difference between the state of Europe post-war versus the state of England. I always assumed England had a bad time because of course a few key places were bombed extensively, but that’s nothing to the Average Countryside of the middle of Europe.
‘Those first French faces at Calais! I shall remember them for ever, thought Lucy, in their apathy and thinness; I shall never forget the bitterness in their eyes as they stared at our clothes and our shoes and our bags full of food. Lovely France! Can you ever forgive us for not suffering what you have suffered?’
;London, she thought. The problem of food. The headlines in the papers. The problem of drink. The nine o’clock news and the one o’clock news that took away your appetite if you were fool enough to turn it on. The problem of cigarettes. What will Russia do now or next? The Government. A hidden airplane throbbing through the low London clouds. Dammit those people are coming in tonight and we’re out of gin. Bevin flies to, or at, Paris or Churchill or both. Or is it Bevan? The problem of Western Germany. The problem of Mass Emigration. Darling, I feel like seeing some people. The problem of Atomic energy. One of that new kind, screaming like a damned soul down the sky and out of sight in five seconds.’
What WILL Russia do next? A question that is irritatingly evergreen.
‘“Mum says,” Kay continued, returning the glance with malice, “that those types, the Pimmies, ought to be scrubbing hospital wards and blacking our grates for us, and a few years ago that’s what they would have been doing, but of course when you’ve got a government that pays them ten pounds a week to file forms or teach dotty kids in the slums how to count, they’ve got to spend their money somehow and so they come out here and spoil things for us. Dad says so too, and I agree with him,’’ she ended defiantly, staring straight at Peter.’
This is also a super interesting point. Of course nowadays there are parts of Europe absolutely clogged with trashy British people (and their trashy Irish counterparts) who go to places like Torremolinos or Ibiza and get disgustingly drunk and loud and go home. It’s hard to imagine touring anywhere without that contingent being a feature. It’s sort of like imagining travel when it was only done by the super-rich, who sent an army of servants ahead of them with luggage they’d packed and would unpack, who’d sort meals and beds and all the details on your behalf. It is simply Not Like That now; in the summer months especially, there’s nowhere to visit that isn’t overrun. I don’t actually like travelling that much, and it feels so counter-culture to say so, but it’s bloody unpleasant most of the time and for most of history I would have been blacking grates instead. So what’s wrong with staying home with a book instead, and central heating?
I’m obviously biased in my tastes, as everyone is. Since I was a small child I wanted romance in all my books. It’s been over thirty years and I’m still shooketh that the horses in A Horse and His Boy got married BUT NOT TO EACH OTHER. The point-of-view character in CCF, Flora, has a romance that’s mainly off-screen, but still a driving force, added to which she matchmakes other people with a vengeance. Compare this to Astra’s overly-worshipful relationship with Bertram (excuse me, but how does he go from forester to missionary? In the 1950s no less?) or the awful – accurate, but awful – depiction of Kay and Peter’s lustful encounter based on no liking whatsoever. I agree with Kay that it would never work, for reasons that are as much Peter’s fault as her own self-declared mercenary ambition (because of course, as Peter himself validates, this is not yet an era of women making their own way professionally and financially). Yet the text wants me to believe this was both of their ONE CHANCE AT LURVE? They are like, eighteen and twenty-one. Sit DOWN.
It was also interesting to read the contemporaneous discourse on the state of the world. It wasn’t extensive, because it’s not trying to be a social commentary. But in much the same way as a book written in this century would reference whatever was the predominant social media of that year – and date itself quickly because of it, although making up tech is so much worse! – Gibbons reflects on the difference between the state of Europe post-war versus the state of England. I always assumed England had a bad time because of course a few key places were bombed extensively, but that’s nothing to the Average Countryside of the middle of Europe.
‘Those first French faces at Calais! I shall remember them for ever, thought Lucy, in their apathy and thinness; I shall never forget the bitterness in their eyes as they stared at our clothes and our shoes and our bags full of food. Lovely France! Can you ever forgive us for not suffering what you have suffered?’
;London, she thought. The problem of food. The headlines in the papers. The problem of drink. The nine o’clock news and the one o’clock news that took away your appetite if you were fool enough to turn it on. The problem of cigarettes. What will Russia do now or next? The Government. A hidden airplane throbbing through the low London clouds. Dammit those people are coming in tonight and we’re out of gin. Bevin flies to, or at, Paris or Churchill or both. Or is it Bevan? The problem of Western Germany. The problem of Mass Emigration. Darling, I feel like seeing some people. The problem of Atomic energy. One of that new kind, screaming like a damned soul down the sky and out of sight in five seconds.’
What WILL Russia do next? A question that is irritatingly evergreen.
‘“Mum says,” Kay continued, returning the glance with malice, “that those types, the Pimmies, ought to be scrubbing hospital wards and blacking our grates for us, and a few years ago that’s what they would have been doing, but of course when you’ve got a government that pays them ten pounds a week to file forms or teach dotty kids in the slums how to count, they’ve got to spend their money somehow and so they come out here and spoil things for us. Dad says so too, and I agree with him,’’ she ended defiantly, staring straight at Peter.’
This is also a super interesting point. Of course nowadays there are parts of Europe absolutely clogged with trashy British people (and their trashy Irish counterparts) who go to places like Torremolinos or Ibiza and get disgustingly drunk and loud and go home. It’s hard to imagine touring anywhere without that contingent being a feature. It’s sort of like imagining travel when it was only done by the super-rich, who sent an army of servants ahead of them with luggage they’d packed and would unpack, who’d sort meals and beds and all the details on your behalf. It is simply Not Like That now; in the summer months especially, there’s nowhere to visit that isn’t overrun. I don’t actually like travelling that much, and it feels so counter-culture to say so, but it’s bloody unpleasant most of the time and for most of history I would have been blacking grates instead. So what’s wrong with staying home with a book instead, and central heating?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 22, 2025
“…it was taken for granted that men and women married in order to get something out of each other, and most of her parents’ friends lived in a state of armed truce, deceiving and deceived, treating their union as a rather wry joke.”
Another fine novel from my beloved Stella Gibbons, in the excellent @dean_street_press_ltd imprint.
Post-war England. Lucy, in her forties, happily married, feeling bit lost in her later life as she has no children, is given the opportunity of spending a summer in Lady Dalgleish’s chalet in Switzerland.
She’ll be there with Freda, Lady Dalgleish’s companion, and they’ll be cataloguing the chalet’s contents - it was a gift from Switzerland to the late Lord Dalgliesh, an eminent mountaineer, for his services to the nation.
Lucy dreams of an idyllic summer, lost in rapture in the crisp mountain air. Freda, who expects to inherit the chalet, has dreams of running it as a guesthouse. Before long Freda’s ungainly daughter Astra turns up followed in short order by an entire family of their acquaintance who are clearly paying for their stay. Lucy is sure Lady D knows nothing of this, but stays quiet to keep the peace. As other guest arrive, upsetting Utta the housekeeper, Lucy’s summer break gets more interesting, and less relaxing. Noticing a dearth of maternal instinct in Freda, Lucy begins to take Astra under her wing.
This was a lovely book. It’s not Gibbons at her absolute peak, but it was very enjoyable, and replete with her trademark warmth, humanity, and humour. It felt at first as though it was going to be very much a Scandinavian “Enchanted April”, but it goes in quite a different direction.
Gibbons can shade a believable human rancour into her humour, without shattering the mood, and is happy to leave conflict unresolved. While it’s not as emotionally rich as Von Arnim’s classic, or as funny as some of her other work, the gentle pace does allow her to reflect on the foibles of marriage, family, and the English abroad. Her eye and ear for character are on fine display, as Astra and her friend Kay bicker and the quietly monstrous Miss Propter sets everyone’s teeth on edge.
Charming.
Another fine novel from my beloved Stella Gibbons, in the excellent @dean_street_press_ltd imprint.
Post-war England. Lucy, in her forties, happily married, feeling bit lost in her later life as she has no children, is given the opportunity of spending a summer in Lady Dalgleish’s chalet in Switzerland.
She’ll be there with Freda, Lady Dalgleish’s companion, and they’ll be cataloguing the chalet’s contents - it was a gift from Switzerland to the late Lord Dalgliesh, an eminent mountaineer, for his services to the nation.
Lucy dreams of an idyllic summer, lost in rapture in the crisp mountain air. Freda, who expects to inherit the chalet, has dreams of running it as a guesthouse. Before long Freda’s ungainly daughter Astra turns up followed in short order by an entire family of their acquaintance who are clearly paying for their stay. Lucy is sure Lady D knows nothing of this, but stays quiet to keep the peace. As other guest arrive, upsetting Utta the housekeeper, Lucy’s summer break gets more interesting, and less relaxing. Noticing a dearth of maternal instinct in Freda, Lucy begins to take Astra under her wing.
This was a lovely book. It’s not Gibbons at her absolute peak, but it was very enjoyable, and replete with her trademark warmth, humanity, and humour. It felt at first as though it was going to be very much a Scandinavian “Enchanted April”, but it goes in quite a different direction.
Gibbons can shade a believable human rancour into her humour, without shattering the mood, and is happy to leave conflict unresolved. While it’s not as emotionally rich as Von Arnim’s classic, or as funny as some of her other work, the gentle pace does allow her to reflect on the foibles of marriage, family, and the English abroad. Her eye and ear for character are on fine display, as Astra and her friend Kay bicker and the quietly monstrous Miss Propter sets everyone’s teeth on edge.
Charming.
December 3, 2023
Why haven’t I read more novels by Stella Gibbons? I loved Cold Comfort Farm, her best known book, and this one wasn’t quite as humorous, but delightful nonetheless. It reminded me somewhat of The Enchanted April in that several English ladies of varying ages go abroad to escape their dreary winter and find themselves rubbing shoulders in a charming country home where flowers bloom and soft mountain zephyrs play about their ears. In this case the house is a mountain chalet high in the alps and the descriptions of their environment are wonderful.
Naturally there are tensions between the women, especially when two young men join their party, but all go home changed by their experience. The author even gives us the satisfaction of telling the reader what happens to all of them in their future lives rather than leaving us hanging.
Naturally there are tensions between the women, especially when two young men join their party, but all go home changed by their experience. The author even gives us the satisfaction of telling the reader what happens to all of them in their future lives rather than leaving us hanging.
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