Adèle & Co

Berry #5

by Dornford Yates

This is the first full-length novel featuring Yates’ finest comic creation, Bertram ‘Berry’ Pleydell. The popular character of Adéle is based on the author’s first wife, Bettine, a highly gregarious American dancer and actress. Written in response to massive public demand for the Berry stories, this is regarded as one of Yates’ best books. Amongst the madcap escapades of the Pleydell clan as they career about the French countryside you will find ‘crime, criminals, and some of the funniest writing in the English language’.

Genres: British Literature, Fiction, Unfinished

195 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1957

About the author

Dornford Yates (real name Cecil William Mercer) was a popular British novelist.

Reviews

[Lady Clementina ffinch-ffarowmore · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fifth of the Berry books and their first full-length adventure, this one opens with our narrator Boy waking up to find all of their party (including acquaintance Casca de Palk) knocked out and his sister Daphne, wife Adéle, and cousin Jill (now married to Piers, and thus Duchess of Padua) robbed of all the jewels they were wearing at supper (including the Padua pearls). Although they report the matter to the police, they decide to go after the crooks themselves believing that they’d fare better, particularly while the loot is still in France. Jonah/Jonathan Mansell now steps into a role probably more similar to the part he plays in the Chandos books (which I haven’t read so far), directing the efforts to recover their jewels. The Pleydells pursue the thieves across France employing rooftop vigils, disguises, some espionage, and a bit of cunning, and are helped by a fair bit of luck and some coincidences, enjoying themselves thoroughly and entertaining us in the process.

When I started the book, I thought it didn’t quite “feel” like the Berry books I’d read earlier (specifically Berry and Co and Jonah and Co) and didn’t have me bursting out with laughter. But while this being more of an adventure wasn’t hilarious to the same degree as those, with Berry actually in the book, I needn’t have worried about it not being funny—every time he opened his mouth (or unscrewed his pen), laughter followed. Yates’ love for nature and the peace it brings one shines through in this one as well. Great fun!

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

A full length novel for Berry and the gang. The book has no more to do with Adele than usual, in fact she's quite a minor character. The book sits somewhere between the earlier purely comedic short stories featuring the Pleydell clan and the later adventure novels with Chandos, in that it's an adventure story but generally played for laughs. The finale for instance has Berry, Boy and Jonah dressed as women pursuing (and being pursued by) crooks through the Pyrenees mountains.

[Paul Foley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read all the Chandos books but none of the Berry series. This feels like a crossover. An adventure with both Jonathan Mansell and Berry.
It's a typical Yates adventure with an extended cast. While I enjoyed it, I found Berry quite irritating. The dialogue is also a bit opaque. Very much of its time and society.

[Alan Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love a good old-fashioned British adventure. Give me clean-jawed, well-spoken heroes dripping with wealth and breeding, languid silk-clad women, melodramatic villains and finely engineered cars with running boards and external spare wheels and I'm in heaven - as long as it's well written, of course. And unfortunately, this one isn't.

Dornford Yates began as a writer of romantic tales, and only later diversified into adventure stories. Some of the stuff he did in the latter genre - I might mention "Berry & Co" here - were highly readable and entertaining. Unfortunately, "Adele & Co" is one of his weaker efforts.

The plot, like so many of his Pleydell stories, follows a familiar pattern. The inhabitants of "White Ladies" in the county of Hampshire fall foul of a villain, and set off to recover their property and set things right. Jonah Mansell (the badass, albeit refined, hero), Boy (the narrator) and Berry (the comic relief) and their respective spouses triumph after the usual round of car chases, witty exchanges and beautifully described scenery. Somehow though - probably simply because it's all been done before - this one falls a little flat. I found myself skimming well before the end, and I know better than to get too involved with any of Yates' minor characters, even the goodies - Yates had a nasty habit of killing off his major stars' love interests "offstage" between books, in order to free his leads up for another romantic encounter!

William Mercer (to give Yates his real name) was a pretty intriguing character in his own right - he once horsewhipped a philanderer that was sniffing around his wife (after giving him a gentlemanly warning of course) on the steps of a public bank, and it's obvious that his hero, Jonah Mansell, is a pretty good avatar of his creator. Unfortunately, infallible heroes tend not to hold interest, and the flawed Berry is by far the most approachable of the characters.

By all means try this one, and prove me wrong. But if you're really looking for a good classic adventure yarn, try something else by Yates - "Berry & Co" probably being the best bet - or Dennis Wheatley, who blows Yates out of the water for suspense, characterization and action.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's entirely fitting to call this a Mad Romp.

Imagine Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers turning detective and battling bad guys all over France in order to retrieve some priceless jewels - that's what Adele and Co is like. Berry, Boy, Jonah, Adele and Co are a group of cousins - rich, dashing, carefree and English - who were robbed of their priceless jewels in Paris. When they deduced that it's an inside job, they're out reclaim what's theirs, and seek sweet revenge at the same time. What's more, the notorious criminal, Auntie Emma, is also in on the chase as he also has his eyes on those jewels.

There's a lot of plotting and double-crossing and high speed car chases - bear in mind that this novel is nearly 100 years old - which keeps the pace fast. Adele and Co's enemies span the range of shady characters from cowardly scoundrels to violent psychopaths, but the author has chosen to keep the story very light-hearted. There's not a lot of descriptive passages, but then the author would surprise you by waxing lyrical about Nature - you can just imagine Vaughan Williams' "The Lark Ascending" playing in the background as the characters get all wistful about people turning their back against the old ways and against nature.

Overall a breezy, non-cloying, light-hearted read. Great if you find current "chick-lit" or "holiday reads" somewhat formulaic.

[Hilary · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best. Excitement, humour, love, friendship and gallantry all mixed in with daring exploits and criminal masterminds.

[Stacey]

from list of conservative British fiction