What do you think?
Rate this book
A Dram of Poison
Edgar Award A longtime bachelor finally marries—only to learn the corrosive power of jealousy For fifty-five years, Kenneth Gibson has lived in backwaters. A former army clerk, he makes a quiet living teaching poetry to indifferent undergrads. His life is happily dull until the day he meets Rosemary, a damaged girl whose frailty compels Kenneth to try to make her well. They wed, and as Rosemary recovers from her depression, Gibson falls in love, transforming his world. But his wife will never love him. She is smitten with their landlord, a dashing young chemical engineer named Paul. Gibson wants to let her go, but he cannot bear to be parted with the first love he has ever known. In Paul’s house is a case of poison, and this love triangle can only end in death.
217 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1956
42 people are currently reading
522 people want to read
About the author
Charlotte Armstrong
172 books75 followersFull name Charlotte Armstrong Lewi. Wrote 29 novels, plus short stories and plays under the name Charlotte Armstrong and Jo Valentine. Additional writing jobs: New York Times (advertising department), Breath of the Avenue (fashion reporter).
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 29 of 87 reviews
March 29, 2008
I am engaged in a (slow) project to read all the Edgar Award winning Best Novels, starting with the first in 1954. #4 was Charlotte Armstrong's A DRAM OF POISON. I had been seeing Charlotte Armstrong's name on bookshelves since I first got into the adult section of the library, but I don't believe I'd ever read one of her books. Now I think I'll read some more!
This was the first of the books that I have really enjoyed, even though it still didn't fit the classic detective story paradigm. The LC subject heading was Romantic Suspense, and my library had the book (enclosed in The Charlotte Armstrong Reader, with two other novels) in the general fiction section, although some of her books are in its mystery section.
Based on this sample, Charlotte Armstrong wrote extremely well, was able to create characters with depth of personality that readers can care about, and to create page-turning suspense. Someone commented to me as I was beginning to read the book that it started off slowly, and I would agree, though the quality of the writing kept me going through the set-up part. When the suspense gets going it really takes off, and yet Armstrong managed to include a fair bit of humor, romance, and trenchant philosophy from a bus-driver with it all. I was even surprised by the ending! You'll note that I haven't summarized the plot -- it's a hard one to summarize without giving too much away. Just read it. You won't be sorry.
This was the first of the books that I have really enjoyed, even though it still didn't fit the classic detective story paradigm. The LC subject heading was Romantic Suspense, and my library had the book (enclosed in The Charlotte Armstrong Reader, with two other novels) in the general fiction section, although some of her books are in its mystery section.
Based on this sample, Charlotte Armstrong wrote extremely well, was able to create characters with depth of personality that readers can care about, and to create page-turning suspense. Someone commented to me as I was beginning to read the book that it started off slowly, and I would agree, though the quality of the writing kept me going through the set-up part. When the suspense gets going it really takes off, and yet Armstrong managed to include a fair bit of humor, romance, and trenchant philosophy from a bus-driver with it all. I was even surprised by the ending! You'll note that I haven't summarized the plot -- it's a hard one to summarize without giving too much away. Just read it. You won't be sorry.
September 30, 2015
I'm astonished to discover from the Goodreads page that this won an Edgar as Best Mystery Novel of the Year. For one thing, it really is not up to Edgar standard and for another, well, by no stretch of the imagination is it a mystery. Basically, if you love Elisabeth Sanxay Holding's work, you might quite like this.
After the death of an elderly colleague, reclusive middle-aged poetry prof Kenneth Gibson assists the deceased's wallflower daughter, Rosemary, in the tidying up of the estate. She seems quite helpless and, on an impulse, he suggests they get married, even though there's more than two decades between them. All he's proposing is a marriage of companionship, because neither has found love and they might as well set up as, essentially, housemates.
But then one night, some months into the marriage, they realize over a restaurant meal that in fact they've fallen in love with each other. Before they can get home to, presumably, make whoopee/up for lost time, they have a car accident that puts Kenneth in the hospital for a stretch and leaves him permanently lame.
Kenneth's no-nonsense spinster sister Ethel arrives to look after them, and she soon has Rosemary believing that Kenneth's sole feeling toward her is pity and Kenneth believing that Rosemary merely wants him as a surrogate father -- in other words, that neither is loved by the other. Moreover, according to Ethel, it's obvious that who Rosemary really wants is the studly widower next door, Paul.
Kenneth is so desolated that he decides to commit suicide, and pilfers some deadly poison. On the way home, however, he manages to lose the little bottle somewhere. He, Rosemary and Paul call the cops, but also set out on their own hunt for the missing poison, along the way acquiring helpers. By the time the raggletaggle group finish their day there have been shifting relationships among them, Rosemary and Kenneth have become unafraid to declare publicly their love -- and even to indulge in some merry snogging -- and Kenneth has discovered that all the advice the supposedly practical, pragmatic Ethel has given him over the years has been destructive, both spiritually and emotionally.
The book's biggest flaw is that the hunt for the missing bottle, with additional characters being added on as helpers in seemingly haphazard fashion, goes on for far, far too long. Try as much as Armstrong must have, only one of those characters -- an unusual bus driver -- is sufficiently interesting, sufficiently strong, to bear the burden of keeping us absorbed in the tale. (There's one other secondary character with color, Paul's teenaged daughter, but she makes just a fairly brief appearance toward the end.) And there are too many of these secondary characters -- taken together, they don't so much entertain as clutter up the landscape.
When I finished reading, then, I realized I'd much enjoyed the beginning of the novel, establishing the relationship between Rosemary and Kenneth and watching it deepen, and similarly I'd enjoyed the resolution of it all in the last couple of chapters. What I hadn't enjoyed was the middle bit, which happened unfortunately to be the bulk of the book and of course the reason for its existence as a supposed thriller. Take the beginning and the ending and reduce the whole poison kerfuffle to, essentially, a catalyst in changing the balances between the central trio -- Kenneth, Rosemary, Ethel -- and you'd have a pretty damn' fine novella.
Which is kind of a tough thing to find myself saying about a novel that is, by today's standards, really quite short.
After the death of an elderly colleague, reclusive middle-aged poetry prof Kenneth Gibson assists the deceased's wallflower daughter, Rosemary, in the tidying up of the estate. She seems quite helpless and, on an impulse, he suggests they get married, even though there's more than two decades between them. All he's proposing is a marriage of companionship, because neither has found love and they might as well set up as, essentially, housemates.
But then one night, some months into the marriage, they realize over a restaurant meal that in fact they've fallen in love with each other. Before they can get home to, presumably, make whoopee/up for lost time, they have a car accident that puts Kenneth in the hospital for a stretch and leaves him permanently lame.
Kenneth's no-nonsense spinster sister Ethel arrives to look after them, and she soon has Rosemary believing that Kenneth's sole feeling toward her is pity and Kenneth believing that Rosemary merely wants him as a surrogate father -- in other words, that neither is loved by the other. Moreover, according to Ethel, it's obvious that who Rosemary really wants is the studly widower next door, Paul.
Kenneth is so desolated that he decides to commit suicide, and pilfers some deadly poison. On the way home, however, he manages to lose the little bottle somewhere. He, Rosemary and Paul call the cops, but also set out on their own hunt for the missing poison, along the way acquiring helpers. By the time the raggletaggle group finish their day there have been shifting relationships among them, Rosemary and Kenneth have become unafraid to declare publicly their love -- and even to indulge in some merry snogging -- and Kenneth has discovered that all the advice the supposedly practical, pragmatic Ethel has given him over the years has been destructive, both spiritually and emotionally.
The book's biggest flaw is that the hunt for the missing bottle, with additional characters being added on as helpers in seemingly haphazard fashion, goes on for far, far too long. Try as much as Armstrong must have, only one of those characters -- an unusual bus driver -- is sufficiently interesting, sufficiently strong, to bear the burden of keeping us absorbed in the tale. (There's one other secondary character with color, Paul's teenaged daughter, but she makes just a fairly brief appearance toward the end.) And there are too many of these secondary characters -- taken together, they don't so much entertain as clutter up the landscape.
When I finished reading, then, I realized I'd much enjoyed the beginning of the novel, establishing the relationship between Rosemary and Kenneth and watching it deepen, and similarly I'd enjoyed the resolution of it all in the last couple of chapters. What I hadn't enjoyed was the middle bit, which happened unfortunately to be the bulk of the book and of course the reason for its existence as a supposed thriller. Take the beginning and the ending and reduce the whole poison kerfuffle to, essentially, a catalyst in changing the balances between the central trio -- Kenneth, Rosemary, Ethel -- and you'd have a pretty damn' fine novella.
Which is kind of a tough thing to find myself saying about a novel that is, by today's standards, really quite short.
June 17, 2023
I0/2016
found this slow in the beginning, with uninteresting characters. It got better, but still, suspenseless for an award winning mystery. From 1956.
found this slow in the beginning, with uninteresting characters. It got better, but still, suspenseless for an award winning mystery. From 1956.
June 10, 2019
COUNTDOWN: Mid-20th Century North American Crime
BOOK 223 (of 250)
HOOK=2: Opening lines:
' "The tall man switched on the light. "I wont be a minute," he said. The short man looked around the room, which was a laboratory. He ambled over to gaze, without understanding, at some apparatus.' Eventually on page one there's a discussion of poisons in the lab, and as the saying goes, if 'you show a gun, you have to use the gun' in literature, stage plays, etc. There will be poison, but oh, it's a long walk till the story/crime kicks in.
PACE=2: A relatively slow read.
PLOT=1: A single, 55 y/0 man finally decides to marry, but the young lady is much younger than he. She blooms, he thinks he can't possibly satisfy her at and he steals the titular gram of poison in order to kill himself, but the poison goes missing. A very disappointing final 1/3rd of the book has characters, then more characters, chasing missing poison which may have already been taken. Red herrings are strewn throughout the book as to whom may have already consumed it. In the film version of the board game "Clue", the characters run from room to room, in comical panic. That's the last third of this book, and it's supposed to be serious, but it's on the silly side. Not really a crime novel.
CHARACTERS=3: The older, single man, Mr. Gibson, surprises us: he is happily single, and suddenly unhappily married. Rosemary is in her twenties and lonely when her father dies. (In 1956, single ladies just didn't live in houses on their own.) Rosemary is shy and awkward, as if her father never raised her past 16 or 17.) It's interesting to watch her maturity after her marriage to Mr. Gibson, while he stagnates. There is a car accident, and Rosemary must now take care of the very ill Mr. Gibson. This book is a character study more than anything else. Mr. Gibson's sister, Ethel, comes to town to help out, and a handsome single neighbor seems to be interested in Rosemary.
ATMOSPHERE/PLACE=2: This story could happen anywhere. And there is nothing interesting in the atmosphere. For example, 'The wedding took place at three in the afternoon in a drab office with no fanfare and not much odor of sanctity.' This is the main thrust of the story, and there isn't much to it: no indication of ominous insecurities, etc.
SUMMARY: An overall rating of 2.0 for this rather weak Armstrong novel. I've no idea how/why this book won an Edgar Award. It isn't even in the genre for receiving an Edgar!
BOOK 223 (of 250)
HOOK=2: Opening lines:
' "The tall man switched on the light. "I wont be a minute," he said. The short man looked around the room, which was a laboratory. He ambled over to gaze, without understanding, at some apparatus.' Eventually on page one there's a discussion of poisons in the lab, and as the saying goes, if 'you show a gun, you have to use the gun' in literature, stage plays, etc. There will be poison, but oh, it's a long walk till the story/crime kicks in.
PACE=2: A relatively slow read.
PLOT=1: A single, 55 y/0 man finally decides to marry, but the young lady is much younger than he. She blooms, he thinks he can't possibly satisfy her at and he steals the titular gram of poison in order to kill himself, but the poison goes missing. A very disappointing final 1/3rd of the book has characters, then more characters, chasing missing poison which may have already been taken. Red herrings are strewn throughout the book as to whom may have already consumed it. In the film version of the board game "Clue", the characters run from room to room, in comical panic. That's the last third of this book, and it's supposed to be serious, but it's on the silly side. Not really a crime novel.
CHARACTERS=3: The older, single man, Mr. Gibson, surprises us: he is happily single, and suddenly unhappily married. Rosemary is in her twenties and lonely when her father dies. (In 1956, single ladies just didn't live in houses on their own.) Rosemary is shy and awkward, as if her father never raised her past 16 or 17.) It's interesting to watch her maturity after her marriage to Mr. Gibson, while he stagnates. There is a car accident, and Rosemary must now take care of the very ill Mr. Gibson. This book is a character study more than anything else. Mr. Gibson's sister, Ethel, comes to town to help out, and a handsome single neighbor seems to be interested in Rosemary.
ATMOSPHERE/PLACE=2: This story could happen anywhere. And there is nothing interesting in the atmosphere. For example, 'The wedding took place at three in the afternoon in a drab office with no fanfare and not much odor of sanctity.' This is the main thrust of the story, and there isn't much to it: no indication of ominous insecurities, etc.
SUMMARY: An overall rating of 2.0 for this rather weak Armstrong novel. I've no idea how/why this book won an Edgar Award. It isn't even in the genre for receiving an Edgar!
February 14, 2021
A Dram of Poison by Charlotte Armstrong was originally published in 1956 and was a unique, interesting story. Armstrong's writing reminds me of other female authors I've enjoyed of a similar time-frame; Dorothy Salisbury Davis, Helen MacInnis, Margaret Millar. Different types of stories in some cases but just a similar feel.
I found this a fascinating story. It takes a bit to get going but as the story progresses, it gets more and more interesting. Mr. Gibson is a poetry professor at a small California university. He is a quiet, unassuming man who gets involved in a fascinating story. Attending the funeral of a fellow professor Mr. Gibson takes the professor's daughter under his wing. He helps bring her health back and ultimately he marries her; a kind of bargain that he will help her but not it will be basically a platonic relationship. (Note: the story starts off with Gibson in his friend's office, and he notices that his friends has poisons in stock)
Gibson realizes that he loves Rosemary and they go to celebrate. Returning from the restaurant, they are involved in a car crash that will change their lives. Gibson is invalided (broken leg) so he calls his sister Ethel to come and help. She is one of those people who cause problems and she does. A series of events happen that will involve Gibson and Rosemary making a voyage through the city, gathering up various people in their wake. This is the best part of the story as we meet a great cast of characters who help the two on their search.
The story is basically a voyage of self-discovery; their own qualities, their relationship, their love, all the while trying to find something that could kill the person who might find it. Now I realize that's a bit obtuse, but you need to read the story to find out what. The first half was a bit slow at times, lots of self-doubt, self-rationalization but it really picks up so very much in the 2nd part, getting better and better. Well worth reading. (4.5 stars)
I found this a fascinating story. It takes a bit to get going but as the story progresses, it gets more and more interesting. Mr. Gibson is a poetry professor at a small California university. He is a quiet, unassuming man who gets involved in a fascinating story. Attending the funeral of a fellow professor Mr. Gibson takes the professor's daughter under his wing. He helps bring her health back and ultimately he marries her; a kind of bargain that he will help her but not it will be basically a platonic relationship. (Note: the story starts off with Gibson in his friend's office, and he notices that his friends has poisons in stock)
Gibson realizes that he loves Rosemary and they go to celebrate. Returning from the restaurant, they are involved in a car crash that will change their lives. Gibson is invalided (broken leg) so he calls his sister Ethel to come and help. She is one of those people who cause problems and she does. A series of events happen that will involve Gibson and Rosemary making a voyage through the city, gathering up various people in their wake. This is the best part of the story as we meet a great cast of characters who help the two on their search.
The story is basically a voyage of self-discovery; their own qualities, their relationship, their love, all the while trying to find something that could kill the person who might find it. Now I realize that's a bit obtuse, but you need to read the story to find out what. The first half was a bit slow at times, lots of self-doubt, self-rationalization but it really picks up so very much in the 2nd part, getting better and better. Well worth reading. (4.5 stars)
July 30, 2016
A short, slow-to-start mystery with some great characters, a gentle, untypical love story and even a bit of philosophy.
Kenneth Gibson, 55, teaches English at a small college and has just married for the first time. His wife Rosemary is only 32. You might say she was a damsel in distress and he rushed to her rescue. Anyway, that's how his sister Ethel describes it.
They've only been married 5 weeks when they're in a car wreck. Of course, says Ethel, though Rosemary was driving, she was not to blame! Ethel flies out to care for them and moves in to stay at their cottage. Because both Kenneth and Rosemary are so unassuming and self-effacing, they can’t ask her to leave, so Ethel not only rules the home but begins to rule their lives too. Their fragile relationship starts to unravel — fast.
Kenneth becomes so depressed he decides to commit suicide by taking poison from the college laboratory. Only, by the time he gets home to do the deed, he's lost the bottle containing the poison, and with the ensuing search, the real fun of the story begins! We are quickly introduced to a disparate group of characters who not only join forces to find the poison before someone else does, but try to nudge Kenneth and Rosemary back together.
I think Armstrong does a fantastic job of rounding out her characters. Each supporting cast member is a separate individual, and examining Ethel and her ideas from all angles is really fun! I do have to admit that Kenneth and Rosemary are not you might call kick-ass. That one fact might keep some readers from giving this book a try, but it would be their loss. Watching these two grow able to stand up for themselves doesn't mean there's no action — or that it’s a dull book.
I'm sure I'll be rereading this one!
(My copy is a hardcover published by Coward-McCann in 1956.)
Kenneth Gibson, 55, teaches English at a small college and has just married for the first time. His wife Rosemary is only 32. You might say she was a damsel in distress and he rushed to her rescue. Anyway, that's how his sister Ethel describes it.
They've only been married 5 weeks when they're in a car wreck. Of course, says Ethel, though Rosemary was driving, she was not to blame! Ethel flies out to care for them and moves in to stay at their cottage. Because both Kenneth and Rosemary are so unassuming and self-effacing, they can’t ask her to leave, so Ethel not only rules the home but begins to rule their lives too. Their fragile relationship starts to unravel — fast.
Kenneth becomes so depressed he decides to commit suicide by taking poison from the college laboratory. Only, by the time he gets home to do the deed, he's lost the bottle containing the poison, and with the ensuing search, the real fun of the story begins! We are quickly introduced to a disparate group of characters who not only join forces to find the poison before someone else does, but try to nudge Kenneth and Rosemary back together.
I think Armstrong does a fantastic job of rounding out her characters. Each supporting cast member is a separate individual, and examining Ethel and her ideas from all angles is really fun! I do have to admit that Kenneth and Rosemary are not you might call kick-ass. That one fact might keep some readers from giving this book a try, but it would be their loss. Watching these two grow able to stand up for themselves doesn't mean there's no action — or that it’s a dull book.
I'm sure I'll be rereading this one!
(My copy is a hardcover published by Coward-McCann in 1956.)
February 20, 2021
4 stars
I thought I was picking up a thrilling 'against the clock' story filled with close calls and devious intentions, but instead A Dram of Poison is unexpectedly lighthearted, with a cast of quirky (rather than shady) characters, and a focus on philosophical discussion rather than intricate mystery—and I'm surprisingly all for it!
The book definitely starts slow; its synopsis covers 40% of its page count, and the central incident doesn't kick into gear until halfway through. While I appreciate conceptually the heightened contrast in its pacing (the mundane life of a middle-aged man was turned upside down), the buildup definitely feels absurdly prolonged in retrospect.
The subtle 'a novel of suspense' is a misnomer, it's like calling Fredrik Backman's Anxious People a 'thriller'; while A Dram of Poison contains anxiety-inducing elements, it's merely a setup for debate: innocent misfortune versus intentional impulse, is an accident purely an unfortunate bad luck? Or is it a sinister decisions made by the subconscious? Charlotte Armstrong created engaging round-tables with intelligently formed arguments from distinct point of views, and everything layered up nicely in complexity as more and more characters chiming in on the topic. Still, even with the lively characters and heady banter, the unchanging scenario (people talking in car while en-route to the next destination) ultimately became a little repetitive.
Overall, A Dram of Poison is thought-provoking, and full of charm with its antiquated style of humor and pacing (I'm imagining this as a black and white film, with a car in front of a screen-projected moving background); if you enjoyed the likes of Matt Haig or Fredrik Backman, using a genre trope as a device for discussion on humanity, you'll find a lot to appreciate here.
I thought I was picking up a thrilling 'against the clock' story filled with close calls and devious intentions, but instead A Dram of Poison is unexpectedly lighthearted, with a cast of quirky (rather than shady) characters, and a focus on philosophical discussion rather than intricate mystery—and I'm surprisingly all for it!
The book definitely starts slow; its synopsis covers 40% of its page count, and the central incident doesn't kick into gear until halfway through. While I appreciate conceptually the heightened contrast in its pacing (the mundane life of a middle-aged man was turned upside down), the buildup definitely feels absurdly prolonged in retrospect.
The subtle 'a novel of suspense' is a misnomer, it's like calling Fredrik Backman's Anxious People a 'thriller'; while A Dram of Poison contains anxiety-inducing elements, it's merely a setup for debate: innocent misfortune versus intentional impulse, is an accident purely an unfortunate bad luck? Or is it a sinister decisions made by the subconscious? Charlotte Armstrong created engaging round-tables with intelligently formed arguments from distinct point of views, and everything layered up nicely in complexity as more and more characters chiming in on the topic. Still, even with the lively characters and heady banter, the unchanging scenario (people talking in car while en-route to the next destination) ultimately became a little repetitive.
Overall, A Dram of Poison is thought-provoking, and full of charm with its antiquated style of humor and pacing (I'm imagining this as a black and white film, with a car in front of a screen-projected moving background); if you enjoyed the likes of Matt Haig or Fredrik Backman, using a genre trope as a device for discussion on humanity, you'll find a lot to appreciate here.
October 5, 2024
A Dram Of Poison' wasn't at all the book that I'd expected it to be. To some extent, that's because the publisher's summary seems to have been written by somebody who hasn't read the book. Mostly, though, it was because this is quite an unusual book in terms of both style and content.
'A Dram Of Poison' started like The Great American Novel rather than a crime novella Kenneth Gibson's life is evoked with skill and a modicum of lyricism in just a few pages, so that I knew who he is at fifty-five and who he would probably have continued to be had he not met a young woman, (well, a thirty-eight-year-old woman) at her father's funeral. I was impressed, intrigued and surprised.
The surprise was mostly atthe storytelling style, which had an odd distance to it that felt accurate without being intimate and insightful without being empathic. To me, it felt like the kind of account that I'd have expected fifty years earlier from Wharton or James. I admired the delicacy with which Armstrong captured Gibson's shifting moods and emotions and startling moments of reassessement with the dispassionate accuracy of someone recording the results of an experiment.
Intially, Gibson seemed like a nice guy: habitually kind, driven by a mixture of duty and the desire to have a quiet but respectable place in the world. I was taken by surprise when his kindness to Rosemary translated itself into a proposal of marriage. I started to think less well of him when I saw how the marriage was turning out. It seemed to me that he treated his wife like a dog he'd rescued from the pound and nursed back to health. There was no malice in it but there seemed to be no understanding either. I had to remind myself that he was born in 1900, had lived alone for decades and had almost no experience of women.
Then, disaster struck and everything changed. Gibson's sister, Ethel, a dominant and rigidly organised woman, joined the married couple's newly-formed household, to help cope with the consequences of the disaster. That's when Gibson's descent into unhappiness started.
Like Gibson himself, the prose describing these events kept emotions at arms length, denying them a voice, while letting the reader's imagination see clearly how circumstances have changed, dreams have been lost and bleak futures have been ushered in.
I hadn't liked Gibson much when he was in rescue mode. Now I felt sorry for him as he started to see himself becoming an old cripple, leading a life he didn't choose and harbouring resentments he could not voice.
I found the second quarter of the book hard-going. Ethel's worldview was, probably unintentionally, poisonous. Gibson's depression was so deep that it was hard to watch. Gibson, Rosemary and Ethel began to seem doomed, in undramatic, mundane ways that would slowly bleed them of life. The book's central argument at this point seemed to be about what it meant to see the world clearly and whether seeing altruism in others as real was a failure to understand human nature. The writing was excellent but the ideas leached hope and happiness out of the world. I was almost as ready to give up on the book as Gibson was to give up on himself.
The second half of the book left me dazed. Suddenly, I went from a doom-laden, oppressive, tough to read book to a novelisation of a Bernard Shaw type of play of ideas, filled to the brim with optimism, wit, friendship and a determination to overcome adversity. I felt like I'd moved from Hitchcock's 'Rope' to Capra's 'It's A Wonderful Life' in the blink of an eye. The first half of the book took me days to slog through. The second half I consumed eagerly in an afternoon.
I liked the second half much better but it was such a surprise, it took me a while to adjust to what was happening.
My only previous exposure to Armstrong's work was with 'Mischief' (1950) which was an excellent hard-boiled thriller. If I'd gone into 'A Dram Of Poison' thinking of it as a book of ideas rather than a Golden Age Mystery I'd probably have enjoyed the novella more. As it was, I struggled with it.
'A Dram Of Poison' started like The Great American Novel rather than a crime novella Kenneth Gibson's life is evoked with skill and a modicum of lyricism in just a few pages, so that I knew who he is at fifty-five and who he would probably have continued to be had he not met a young woman, (well, a thirty-eight-year-old woman) at her father's funeral. I was impressed, intrigued and surprised.
The surprise was mostly atthe storytelling style, which had an odd distance to it that felt accurate without being intimate and insightful without being empathic. To me, it felt like the kind of account that I'd have expected fifty years earlier from Wharton or James. I admired the delicacy with which Armstrong captured Gibson's shifting moods and emotions and startling moments of reassessement with the dispassionate accuracy of someone recording the results of an experiment.
Intially, Gibson seemed like a nice guy: habitually kind, driven by a mixture of duty and the desire to have a quiet but respectable place in the world. I was taken by surprise when his kindness to Rosemary translated itself into a proposal of marriage. I started to think less well of him when I saw how the marriage was turning out. It seemed to me that he treated his wife like a dog he'd rescued from the pound and nursed back to health. There was no malice in it but there seemed to be no understanding either. I had to remind myself that he was born in 1900, had lived alone for decades and had almost no experience of women.
Then, disaster struck and everything changed. Gibson's sister, Ethel, a dominant and rigidly organised woman, joined the married couple's newly-formed household, to help cope with the consequences of the disaster. That's when Gibson's descent into unhappiness started.
Like Gibson himself, the prose describing these events kept emotions at arms length, denying them a voice, while letting the reader's imagination see clearly how circumstances have changed, dreams have been lost and bleak futures have been ushered in.
I hadn't liked Gibson much when he was in rescue mode. Now I felt sorry for him as he started to see himself becoming an old cripple, leading a life he didn't choose and harbouring resentments he could not voice.
I found the second quarter of the book hard-going. Ethel's worldview was, probably unintentionally, poisonous. Gibson's depression was so deep that it was hard to watch. Gibson, Rosemary and Ethel began to seem doomed, in undramatic, mundane ways that would slowly bleed them of life. The book's central argument at this point seemed to be about what it meant to see the world clearly and whether seeing altruism in others as real was a failure to understand human nature. The writing was excellent but the ideas leached hope and happiness out of the world. I was almost as ready to give up on the book as Gibson was to give up on himself.
The second half of the book left me dazed. Suddenly, I went from a doom-laden, oppressive, tough to read book to a novelisation of a Bernard Shaw type of play of ideas, filled to the brim with optimism, wit, friendship and a determination to overcome adversity. I felt like I'd moved from Hitchcock's 'Rope' to Capra's 'It's A Wonderful Life' in the blink of an eye. The first half of the book took me days to slog through. The second half I consumed eagerly in an afternoon.
I liked the second half much better but it was such a surprise, it took me a while to adjust to what was happening.
My only previous exposure to Armstrong's work was with 'Mischief' (1950) which was an excellent hard-boiled thriller. If I'd gone into 'A Dram Of Poison' thinking of it as a book of ideas rather than a Golden Age Mystery I'd probably have enjoyed the novella more. As it was, I struggled with it.
Read
May 18, 2012I have a feeling that I missed a memo somewhere. Or the boat. Or something. When I look at Goodreads, the average rating on Charlotte Armstrong's "mystery" novel A Dram of Poison is 4.04/5 stars. The text reviews that have been given are pretty rave-y. It was the winner of an Edgar for Best Mystery novel of 1957. It's listed by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association as one of their favorite mysteries of the 20th century. And, I'm all, like, um....yeah. Whatever. I mean it's a nice little story about this shy, introspective academic-type who has taught poetry (You'd think I'd be hooked right there--I mean, come on, it's got an academic in it for crying out loud. I love those.) and has been all dependable and reliable and what-not and is now 55 and never been in love and then it happens. He meets the girl....only he doesn't know it yet. He just thinks he's being helpful and marrying her to help her out after her crazy father's death--and she needs someone to take care of her and to give her time to regain her strength and actually eat something, for heaven's sake. So, good, old, dependable Kenneth Gibson is right there to save Rosemary's day--bacon--something.
She blossoms--gets all nice and healthy--and he suddenly notices how lovely she is and....zap! Cupid zings him a good one and he falls in love with his wife. Happy ending, right? And where's the mystery? Ain't got one yet. But that's okay, 'cause we're only half-way done with the book and when you turn two or three pages you'll find the happy couple in hospital. Car accident....on the way home from celebrating Rosemary's blooming health and the beginning of love's middle-aged dream. Ah-ha! You say. Now we're getting down to cases. Somebody's trying kill one or both of them off. There's a secret fortune hidden in Rosemary's crazy father's effects and the secret heir wants it. OR somebody's lusting after the newly-beautiful and radiant girl and wants to bump off ol' reliable. Yeah, no. Just an accident. Really.
Then....Kenneth's sister shows up to take charge while he (who got the brunt of the injuries) recovers. Sis is an amateur psychologist and starts spouting her theories hither and yon and making both Kenneth and Rosemary doubt themselves and their motives and each other. Kenneth is filled with sis's doom and gloom psycho-babble and decides that Rosemary never cared and could never possibly care for a middle-aged, stuffy old academic like himself and decides to kill himself --'cause, that's a logical thing to do, you know. He traipses off to pick up some handy tasteless, do-the-trick-in-a-flash-and-with-no-pain, unnamed poison that his neighbor has conveniently displayed to him way back in chapter one. He dumps it in a bottle of olive oil (the better to slide it down the hatch), stuffs it in a green bag, climbs on a bus......and somewhere along the way manages to lose the darn stuff.
Ah ha! You say again. This is one of those inverted mysteries. You know who the killer is (albeit an unintentional one) and you know how it was done. All we do now is wait for someone to drop dead from tainted olive oil and watch the fun while the cops try to figure out who had it in for Mr./Ms. X. Yeah, no. Nobody dies. There's no mystery as far as I can see.....except the mystery as to why this was categorized as a mystery. And maybe, if you want to stretch a point, you could label it as suspense.....because, after all, you--the reader--are on the edge of your seat wondering when the heck the mystery is going to show up.
Charlotte Armstrong is hit or miss for me. I hated The Chocolate Cobweb; I loved Lay On, MacDuff! I'm just plain at a loss with A Dram of Poison. This book has some really delightful, comic dialogue in the second half--which might have done a lot more for me if I hadn't been searching high and low for a mystery hidden somewhere. I think I might have liked the characters if it had been billed as a straight fiction novel. I'll never know. No rating....I have no idea what I want to give it.
This review is mine and was first posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting any portion. Thanks.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 16, 2018
I loved the second half of this so much it’s hard to review it without giving it away, but I’ll do my best. It’s a thriller rather than a mystery, about a rather drab university professor and a young woman he gets involved with. After an initial scene involving a discussion of poison which tips the reader off that there is fun to be had later, the story proceeds at a gentle pace and is in danger of plodding a little until the mid-way point when a wonderful plot turn switches the tale into a desperate and gripping race against time. It’s packed with really engaging characters, a little comedy and some sentiment that just about manages to stay on the right side of cloying. I really liked it.
June 13, 2011
They don't really make books like this any more. There was absolutely nothing offensive about it, no one died, and it was funny and light-hearted in parts. It was the equivalent of a G rated movie, or one of the movies from the fifties that was made before the ratings system was in place. It would have made a terrific movie back then; not sure anyone would make a story now where so little is at stake. Anyway, I'm intrigued enough by this one to want to read more of her books.
September 16, 2023
Date de 1956, ce roman oscille entre noirceur et psychologie sans que le lecteur puisse deviner s'il est entraîné vers une histoire de crime et d'enquête, ou un thriller psychologique, voire une histoire de mœurs.
Kenneth Gibson, célibataire, la cinquantaine, professeur de poésie, a toujours mené sa vie en solitaire, à la fois par dévouement familial, et par goût, se sentant peu d'affinités avec le monde moderne.
Spontanément gentil , sensible et généreux, il est touché par l'état dépressif et l'isolement d'une jeune femme, fille d'un collègue qui vient de décéder. Il lui vient en aide, la soutien tant moralement que financièrement, finissant par lui proposer un mariage devant l'établir pour de bon dans sa vie nouvelle.
Il n'avait pas prévu de tomber amoureux.
Ni l'accident de voiture lui brisant les os et l'obligeant à l'immobilité de longs mois.
Il n'avait pas pensé au jeune et charmant voisin, veuf séduisant et sympathique.
Il n'avait pas prévu l'installation définitive de sa sœur dans la maison.
Kenneth Gibson, célibataire, la cinquantaine, professeur de poésie, a toujours mené sa vie en solitaire, à la fois par dévouement familial, et par goût, se sentant peu d'affinités avec le monde moderne.
Spontanément gentil , sensible et généreux, il est touché par l'état dépressif et l'isolement d'une jeune femme, fille d'un collègue qui vient de décéder. Il lui vient en aide, la soutien tant moralement que financièrement, finissant par lui proposer un mariage devant l'établir pour de bon dans sa vie nouvelle.
Il n'avait pas prévu de tomber amoureux.
Ni l'accident de voiture lui brisant les os et l'obligeant à l'immobilité de longs mois.
Il n'avait pas pensé au jeune et charmant voisin, veuf séduisant et sympathique.
Il n'avait pas prévu l'installation définitive de sa sœur dans la maison.
December 9, 2018
After a rough first chapter that reads like a poor translation, this settles into an intriguing set-up that had me eager to find out where it was heading... Would the husband poison the neighbour who catches his wife's eye? Would the wife and neighbour poison the husband to get him out of the way? Would the husband and wife poison the husband's sister, a manipulator who is driving them apart?
None of the above, not at all what I predicted, in the worst way possible. The second half of the novel is unbelievably poor, one step from slapstick comedy, with the wife, husband, and neighbour piled into a car, picking up people from different walks of life at every stop, each with their annoying homespun wisdom offering the husband advice on his situation, all staying with the party long past the breaking point of credibility. Just dreadful.
None of the above, not at all what I predicted, in the worst way possible. The second half of the novel is unbelievably poor, one step from slapstick comedy, with the wife, husband, and neighbour piled into a car, picking up people from different walks of life at every stop, each with their annoying homespun wisdom offering the husband advice on his situation, all staying with the party long past the breaking point of credibility. Just dreadful.
November 12, 2013
Armstrong uses a high concept suspense story (a deadly poison left on a public bus in a misleadingly labeled bottle) as the flimsiest of excuses for a long, almost Platonic conversation on free will, predestination, truth, poetry and the uses and misuses of psychology. Civilized, literary, humorous, with some memorable characterization, cleverly observed and roundly phrased. A most pleasant surprise.
July 17, 2022
How have I avoided reading Charlotte Armstrong for so long? A Dram of Poison has been there on my shelf all along, yet I’ve only now discovered it.
Such a simple premise that becomes more complex as characters join the plot. There’s humor, sympathetic characters, a little romance, psychology, and even some life philosophy to contemplate.
This would have made a great early Hitchcock movie. Loved it and will be reading more.
Such a simple premise that becomes more complex as characters join the plot. There’s humor, sympathetic characters, a little romance, psychology, and even some life philosophy to contemplate.
This would have made a great early Hitchcock movie. Loved it and will be reading more.
October 11, 2021
I rate this book as surprisingly delightful! It's more of an emotional thriller than a mystery, but that made me love it. It's a little dated but a solid emotional journey with lovely characters and interesting commentary on the effects of armchair psychology and how we should view and treat people.
January 7, 2015
What a silly beautiful little book!
Read in two hours. It has all the right pieces. Peace beauty and love at heart. Optimistic and good. Read it.
Read in two hours. It has all the right pieces. Peace beauty and love at heart. Optimistic and good. Read it.
Want to read
September 9, 2018Synopsis: Kenneth Gibson teaches poetry. He meets 32 year-old Rosemary. Is it love or something else?
September 14, 2020
Great fun, and one of the most surprising books I've read, and not in the way you might assume (given that it's ostensibly a mystery).
Somehow I thought it would be one of those mid-century modern dry character studies where someone slowly goes mad, or someone ruthlessly murders someone and then tries to escape detection (from their vantage point, like a Highsmith), or there's just this increasing feeling of disquiet and you know something bad's going to happen but it likely won't happen to the last minute ...
Nope, none of that. That's not this book. It feels like this book for almost the first half. That's a lot of book to be leading you in the wrong direction. But be warned: somewhat spare, slightly gloomy, tense characters studies for almost 1/2 the book.
And then, it's like Barbara Cartland or Robertson Davies or Joe Keenan took over and said "that's enough bleak 50s modernism, let's have a bit of fun," and they became Charlotte Armstrong and sent the book on an entirely unexpected trajectory, and kept it up for the last half. I mean, it goes from Scandanavian levels of spare and bleak, to ... rom-com? You can imagine Ralph Fiennes and Rachel McAdams having fun in the film version.
I read the first half slowly and respectfully--I liked it--and then the last half last night around 2:00am-ish, literally couldn't go to sleep 'til I'd finished it. So fun!
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve!
Somehow I thought it would be one of those mid-century modern dry character studies where someone slowly goes mad, or someone ruthlessly murders someone and then tries to escape detection (from their vantage point, like a Highsmith), or there's just this increasing feeling of disquiet and you know something bad's going to happen but it likely won't happen to the last minute ...
Nope, none of that. That's not this book. It feels like this book for almost the first half. That's a lot of book to be leading you in the wrong direction. But be warned: somewhat spare, slightly gloomy, tense characters studies for almost 1/2 the book.
And then, it's like Barbara Cartland or Robertson Davies or Joe Keenan took over and said "that's enough bleak 50s modernism, let's have a bit of fun," and they became Charlotte Armstrong and sent the book on an entirely unexpected trajectory, and kept it up for the last half. I mean, it goes from Scandanavian levels of spare and bleak, to ... rom-com? You can imagine Ralph Fiennes and Rachel McAdams having fun in the film version.
I read the first half slowly and respectfully--I liked it--and then the last half last night around 2:00am-ish, literally couldn't go to sleep 'til I'd finished it. So fun!
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve!
December 27, 2025
Starts off slow, like really slow. Slow enough to consider DNF but at only 217 pages I figured I might as well follow through and finish the story. I was thinking this was going to be a traditional murder mystery. As I read, I looked for who I thought the potential murder victim would be and tried to note any pre-murder red herrings.
Imagine my surprise when it started dawning on me that I was not reading a stereotypical mystery with all the common tropes. Once I came across the philosophizing bus driver, I was thrilled. This was totally different than what I thought was going to happen! I love that sensation. It's rare to find, especially in a mystery book. Plus, I usually enjoy the standard tropes and look askance at mystery authors who try to reinvent the wheel. However, in this instance it all worked.
I don't want to go into any details, because I think part of the fun was not knowing what was happening. I am still a bit surprised it won the Edgar. It's a mystery in the old fashioned puzzle sense more than the lurid crime sense that most reader expect these days.
At times it felt like a screwball comedy. The extended scene in the car, adding more and more people - I could see it as a 1930's/40's movie. I started casting the movie in my mind, lol. Definitely William Powell as the bus driver. Gloria Grahame as the nurse. Joan Fontaine as Rosemary. Van Johnson as Paul. Roland Young as Kenneth. Thelma Ritter as Mrs. V. Majorie Mann as Mrs Boatright. Marie Dressler as Ethel. Coming soon to a theater near you haha.
Now I am wondering what her other books are like.
Imagine my surprise when it started dawning on me that I was not reading a stereotypical mystery with all the common tropes. Once I came across the philosophizing bus driver, I was thrilled. This was totally different than what I thought was going to happen! I love that sensation. It's rare to find, especially in a mystery book. Plus, I usually enjoy the standard tropes and look askance at mystery authors who try to reinvent the wheel. However, in this instance it all worked.
I don't want to go into any details, because I think part of the fun was not knowing what was happening. I am still a bit surprised it won the Edgar. It's a mystery in the old fashioned puzzle sense more than the lurid crime sense that most reader expect these days.
At times it felt like a screwball comedy. The extended scene in the car, adding more and more people - I could see it as a 1930's/40's movie. I started casting the movie in my mind, lol. Definitely William Powell as the bus driver. Gloria Grahame as the nurse. Joan Fontaine as Rosemary. Van Johnson as Paul. Roland Young as Kenneth. Thelma Ritter as Mrs. V. Majorie Mann as Mrs Boatright. Marie Dressler as Ethel. Coming soon to a theater near you haha.
Now I am wondering what her other books are like.
January 29, 2022
For the Read Harder Challenge item #20: Read an award-winning book from the year you were born. Not too many to choose from, but found this odd 1957 Edgar Award winner. Odd because it's not really a mystery, more of fun romp. Well, there was a dram of poison, but not in any real threatening sense. Guess mysteries have improved since then.
May 23, 2019
I don't even know how to classify this book other than "garbage."
May 4, 2015
Take A Deep Sip From "A Dram of Poison"
A Dram of Poison won the Edgar Award for Best Novel in 1957, and after reading this novel, it's easy to see why. It's a complex tale of love, disappointment, jealousy, and carelessness that leads to catastrophe. Not your traditional whodunnit, but a story packed with so much suspense you had better read it on your day off, or consider calling in sick. Once you've reached a certain point, there is no stopping until the final page has been turned.
Trouble isn't long in coming when Ken Gibson, a middle-aged English professor suddenly decides to marry Rosemary, a 32 year old woman who has been left homeless by the death of her invalid father. At first things go swimmingly, as they used to say. But the real trouble starts when Ken is injured in an auto accident (while his wife is driving...a mishap that will cause her much hand-wringing in the weeks to come) and Ken's strong willed sister Ethel comes to live with them and help care for Ken.
It doesn't take a psychologist to realize that most family dynamics only allow one woman to dominate a household (safely), and Charlotte Armstrong is a genius for milking the tensions that erupt when the dominant one is not the wife. Ken, caught between two women he loves, decides to end his life to escape what has become intolerable, especially after he observes Rosemary developing a close friendship with a man much closer to her own age. Convinced that his wife would be happier with their neighbor, Ken procures some odorless, tasteless, fast acting poison which he hides in a bottle labeled olive oil.
Then, disaster strikes. A bottle of poison can be a dangerous weapon in the wrong hands.
In resolving his dilemma, Ken gets a strong assist by, of all people, a bus driver. This man's intimate knowledge of the city streets becomes crucial in the story as the suspense builds to an intolerable level. And he proves to be more than a stick figure character. He debates philosophy and the human condition with Rosemary, and more than holds his own.
It's typical of Armstrong to sculpt every character with such depth that they could easily substitute for the main character. Any baseball manager would envy such a deep bullpen.
A Dram of Poison is a real treat. Put the cell phone on silent...this story screams for your attention.
A Dram of Poison won the Edgar Award for Best Novel in 1957, and after reading this novel, it's easy to see why. It's a complex tale of love, disappointment, jealousy, and carelessness that leads to catastrophe. Not your traditional whodunnit, but a story packed with so much suspense you had better read it on your day off, or consider calling in sick. Once you've reached a certain point, there is no stopping until the final page has been turned.
Trouble isn't long in coming when Ken Gibson, a middle-aged English professor suddenly decides to marry Rosemary, a 32 year old woman who has been left homeless by the death of her invalid father. At first things go swimmingly, as they used to say. But the real trouble starts when Ken is injured in an auto accident (while his wife is driving...a mishap that will cause her much hand-wringing in the weeks to come) and Ken's strong willed sister Ethel comes to live with them and help care for Ken.
It doesn't take a psychologist to realize that most family dynamics only allow one woman to dominate a household (safely), and Charlotte Armstrong is a genius for milking the tensions that erupt when the dominant one is not the wife. Ken, caught between two women he loves, decides to end his life to escape what has become intolerable, especially after he observes Rosemary developing a close friendship with a man much closer to her own age. Convinced that his wife would be happier with their neighbor, Ken procures some odorless, tasteless, fast acting poison which he hides in a bottle labeled olive oil.
Then, disaster strikes. A bottle of poison can be a dangerous weapon in the wrong hands.
In resolving his dilemma, Ken gets a strong assist by, of all people, a bus driver. This man's intimate knowledge of the city streets becomes crucial in the story as the suspense builds to an intolerable level. And he proves to be more than a stick figure character. He debates philosophy and the human condition with Rosemary, and more than holds his own.
It's typical of Armstrong to sculpt every character with such depth that they could easily substitute for the main character. Any baseball manager would envy such a deep bullpen.
A Dram of Poison is a real treat. Put the cell phone on silent...this story screams for your attention.
September 10, 2010
This mystery won the Edgar Award in 1957. It is unusual in that it is also a love story and a psychological portrait of a man finding his true nature.
Kenneth Gibson is a fifty-five year old bachelor leading a dull but comfortable and well-ordered life as a teacher. He is prone to helping people, especially fairly helpless characters. He takes on Rosemary, newly widowed and drowning in the fear of being alone. His attitude toward her is in a Henry Higgins mode but eventually they fall in love, despite a 23 year difference in age.
Bad things begin to happen, Kenneth becomes distraught and reckless, while the suspense builds inexorably until the final pages when all is resolved. Kenneth's psychopathic sister and deadly poison are involved.
Many intriguing and well-developed characters fill this very short book. In fact, the economy of the writing shows a master at work. Armstrong seamlessly incorporates philosophy and psychology into a unique take on a mystery.
October 3, 2014
Kenneth Gibson teaches poetry at a local college. He meets Rosemary when her father, a fellow teacher, dies. He helps her go through his papers and tries to lift her spirits. They get married to keep her out of the poor house and soon find a real relationship. One night they have a car accident and Kenneth is seriously hurt. His sister comes to stay with them and help out but instead she takes over. Soon no one is happy and that is where the dram of poison comes into the story. Kenneth had meant the poison for himself but loses it, possibly on a city bus. There is a big search for the small bottle and they pick up a new person at each stop--a bus driver, nurse, rich lady, and artist. This story has romance, suspense, and humor.
August 31, 2023
It's atypical of the "mystery" genre for which it won the 1957 Edgar. It's a sweet little story, but it doesn't precisely fit into a genre. There is a love story and page-turner quality. But it is far from a sweep-you-off-your-feet "romance," and the "suspense" is only mild. Still it is pleasant, simple, and yet unexpected story. I adored the characters and how they worked together.
It felt late-'50s/early-'60s TV; like an exceptionally cozy Twilight Zone or Hitchcock Hour.
Omnibus: The Charlotte Armstrong Reader
It felt late-'50s/early-'60s TV; like an exceptionally cozy Twilight Zone or Hitchcock Hour.
Omnibus: The Charlotte Armstrong Reader
April 12, 2015
What an interesting book. I'm not sure what to classify it as. The cover calls it a mystery, but I'm not sure. There is no murder as is so popular in mysteries now-a-days. There is a theft but everyone knows who did it so that's not the mystery. Maybe the mystery is of life? Hmm, anyways, the book does start off rather slow. Charlotte Armstrong takes her time in setting up the characters and by the time you get to the halfway point and the story kicks into high gear you really know and understand the main characters motivations. The second half is amazing. It is insightful, intelligent, and humorous if not downright funny at times. Who knew having a carload of characters racing about and discussing life could be so page turning?
January 17, 2010
Not what I expected. I read a copy with a completely plain hardcover, but from the cover of the paperback shown here -- and the Edgar Award -- I thought I was in for a noir mystery. I mean, dig that trenchcoat! It turns out to be sweetly suspenseful domestic story. But maybe because it was so unexpected, I liked it a lot. I could have done with a little less adorable homespun philosophy from a couple of the characters, but I loved the sly humor and the characterization of a completely decent man in crisis. I'd like to read more Charlotte Armstrong.
January 1, 2014
Not quite what is says on the cover, but a good read nonetheless. Kindly academic marries bereaved and penniless young woman, more from generosity and pity than any romantic expectation. Much to their mutual surprise, they do slowly fall in love, but after a crippling accident, their happiness is jeopardised by guilt, suspicion and despair. Then an attempted suicide leads to a tense and hilarious chase that gathers both momentum and participants.
Armstrong's compassion shines through in this book, with even the quite dreadful sister being given a fair shake.
Armstrong's compassion shines through in this book, with even the quite dreadful sister being given a fair shake.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 87 reviews