Penny Plain

by Anna Masterton Buchan, O. Douglas

Jean Jardine is twenty-three, going on fifty. But she doesn’t mind at all.

Her mission in life is to look after her brothers in their happy Scottish Borders home of Priorsford, a town just big enough to be respectable. Jean has all she could want in life. After all, not all orphaned siblings are blessed to carry on their lives in such an especially homey cottage as The Rigs, with its garden wall, and creek bridge, and attentive neighbors—who see that Jean’s artlessness is more charming than she knows, and that a heart like hers that loves simple pleasures is bound to be made happy.

Here, Jean is sure, she will always stay…because who would ever come for a penny-plain girl like her?

This is the first book in the Priorsford trilogy, first published in 1920.

390 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1920

About the author

Anna Masterton Buchan was a Scottish novelist. She wrote under the pseudonym "O. Douglas". Most of her novels were written and set between the wars and portrayed small town or village life in southern Scotland, reflecting her own life.

Anna Buchan was the daughter of the Reverend John Buchan and Helen Masterton ands the younger sister of John Buchan, the renowned author and statesman. She attended Hutchesons' Grammar School in Glasgow, but lived most of her later life in Peebles in the Scottish Borders, not far from the village of Broughton where her parents first met.

Her first novel Olivia in India was published in 1912 by Hodder & Stoughton. Unforgettable, Unforgotten (1945) is a memoir of her brother John and of the Buchan family, while Farewell to Priorsford is her autobiography, published posthumously in 1950.

Her work is displayed alongside her brother's at the John Buchan Museum in Peebles.

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a fun book to read! Cozy, sweet, and hit all the right notes.

I will say that someone likened this book to the Mitford series, which I was hesitant about because I actually really didn't like that series. But this book is SO. MUCH. BETTER. So, if you like Mitford, I think you will love this even more.

I will say that it takes a bit to get the Scottish accent in your head and to decipher some of what is being said in the dialect - some, I could make out and some I couldn't but it didn't take away from the story overall.

Thankful for Nogginnose Publishing for bringing this book to print with excellent typeset, binding, and beautiful cover art.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful coming-of-age very reminiscent of D.E. Stevenson's quiet Scottish charm, this book is equal parts comedy, drama, and romance. Wonderful.

[Trish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Almost too good to be true. Perhaps I should have read it during the day instead of nighttime when I was too tired to believe.

[Rivers Houseal · Rating 5 out of 5]

These people are downright delightful. So many golden one-liners. Ordinary does not mean uninteresting—and I get the feeling Miss Buchan would go toe to toe with anybody who says otherwise. I will be re-reading this gem many times, I reckon.