Much Dithering

by Dorothy Lambert

The most striking thing about Much Dithering was its peacefulness. The few people who saw it from charabancs on morning or evening or circular drives said: “Isn’t it peaceful?” or “Isn’t it quiet?”. And some said they thought it was a lovely place to be buried in, but while they were alive they preferred a place with more life, if you knew what they meant.

The unlikely heroine of this delightful comedy of manners is Jocelyn Renshawe, young widow of the local squire, “a specimen of human cabbage” who “fitted into her surroundings so completely that she was hardly noticeable.” But she’s about to be noticed a bit more—by her jaded, much-widowed mother Ermyntrude, who breezes in on the look-out for her next conquest; by her aunt and mother-in-law, who have decided she should marry Colonel Tidmarsh, an elderly (and extremely dull) retired Army man; and by Gervase Blythe, a mysterious acquaintance of Colonel Tidmarsh’s, who arrives in town and rescues Jocelyn from a rainstorm before coming under suspicion as a jewel thief.

One is safe in assuming that Jocelyn is about to leave her mouldering existence behind, but how she does so is the sparkling, cheerful plot of Much Dithering.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Romance, British Literature, Literary Fiction, Domestic Fiction, Humor

252 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1938

About the author

Dorothy Lambert (born Alice Dorothea Irwin) was known for her many romance novels, often incorporating humor and occasionally farce. She left Ireland when she got married in 1906. She died in Kent, near Dover.

Reviews

[Tania · Rating 4 out of 5]

Light and entertaining. It was entirely predictable, but very satisfying. Very likely to appeal to fans of D.E. Stevenson.

[Abigail Bok · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have a strong predilection for the comic wedding-plot novels written in England in the first half of the twentieth century and was happy to try out an author new to me, Dorothy Lambert. I am sorry to say, though, that this book was a disappointment.

Much Dithering had all the usual features: an ingenue heroine, a small village full of gossips and eccentrics, handsome strangers, flashy young people from town, instantaneous attractions, misunderstandings. The narration was sporadically witty and the setting appealing. Unfortunately, Lambert couldn’t rise to the wit of an Angela Thirkell or Margery Sharp; the scenes and dialogue were too often clunky, alternately obvious and disjointed.

The introduction to my Furrowed Middlebrow edition said that Lambert had written a play several years earlier that featured several of the same characters, and I can’t help but feel this material would have worked much better in that format. Its parentage seems to be a cross between She Stoops to Conquer and Noises Off (yes, I know the latter was written decades later), the characters popping in and out of various parlors and drawing rooms at just the wrong moment to say their piece and exit again. I was sporadically amused but never moved to any other emotion.

For anyone still curious, here’s a bit about the storyline: Jocelyn Renshawe is a young widow living in the village of Much Dithering, a mousy sort (though of course beautiful) whose life is completely controlled by duty as defined by her aunt and mother-in-law. The aunt wants her to remarry and the candidate she has settled on is a retired military man thirty-odd years Jocelyn’s senior. Two young men appear in town—the scion of a wealthy but non-U family who have recently bought a big house in the neighborhood, and a mysterious stranger. Of course it is to the mysterious stranger that Jocelyn is drawn, and his mystery (which was obvious to me from the start) is stretched out for most of the story so she has to take him on trust. Why, if he was really interested in her, he couldn’t trust her with the truth is of course not a question one is supposed to ask of this sort of plot. Of course everything sorted itself out for the best in the end.

[Shawn Mooney (Shawn Breathes Books)]

This one was actually hard to bail on, because it had a certain lively energy to it and I am still seduced by the title and the cover. But ultimately, at about the 40% mark, I was done in by the superficiality of the caricatures – I mean characters – yeah no, I definitely mean caricatures. Also way too much expository writing and not enough in the way of scene.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like a cozy 1930s English village novel as much as anyone, but this one left me cold. A facile plot, paint by numbers characterization, and no discernable charm.

[❀⊱RoryReads⊰❀ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was completely predictable but I enjoyed it anyway and will look for more by this author.

[Louise Culmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lighthearted story of romance and misunderstandings set in a sleepy English village. Jocelyn, the heroine, has lived all her life in the village of Much Dithering, and nothing exciting has ever happened to her, but this changes when the mysterious, glamorous Gervase Blythe arrives unexpectedly to stir things up. A good book to read if you are in the mood for something very light and entirely predictable.

[Rosamund · Rating 3 out of 5]

Preposterous but entertaining.

[Peggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A light, pleasant read, written in 1938. I enjoyed rooting for the young heroine, knowing that I didn’t have to worry about her fate. After much dithering, of course all would be (rather conveniently) well.

[Peggy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this!

[dolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

a good read! the author kept introducing elements that seemed like it would be a plot hinging on miscommunication, but then the heroine, jocelyn, would immediately set things straight, which i loved. jocelyn was also a very relatable main character, and her romance was sweet.

[Jen Parenti · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.4/5 ⭐️ I enjoyed this! Fun, I liked Jocelyn’s awakening. Could feel the English village vibes.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read. Surprise! The "bad boy" is the heir, rich, and honorable (now).

[Jenny King · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I could quite happily predict almost everything that happened in this book, but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy the experience.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5. Dated, of course, but with some charms.

[Lynnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this deliciously frothy rom-com from 1938. Three suitors for the widowed Jocelyn Renshawe - which one will she choose? She was certainly not going to be brow-beaten by her aunt, mother, mother-in-law and the vicar's wife and have their choice foisted on her! Very entertaining.

[Classic reverie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hope that Kindle offers more Dorothy Lambert novels, I would certainly read them, for I so enjoyed Lambert's "Much Dithering". I love older books and this one had me wanting to read until, I found out about all the Much Dithering's happenings. Would Much Dithering become another town that advances to modern ways or will it remain quaint and behind the times? Who is the stranger that comes into town raising an uproar?

Story in short- Young widow Jocelyn Renshawe does everything her mother-in-law and aunt request. Her mother, Ermyntrude thinks her daughter should marry an old man while she should marry a young one.


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The unlikely heroine of this delightful comedy of manners is Jocelyn Renshawe, young widow of the local squire, “a specimen of human cabbage” who “fitted into her surroundings so completely that she was hardly noticeable.” But she’s about to be noticed a bit more—by her jaded, much-widowed mother Ermyntrude, who breezes in on the look-out for her next conquest; by her aunt
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and mother-in-law, who have decided she should marry Colonel Tidmarsh, an elderly (and extremely dull) retired Army man; and by Gervase Blythe, a mysterious acquaintance of Colonel Tidmarsh’s, who arrives in town and rescues Jocelyn from a rainstorm before coming under suspicion as a jewel thief. One is safe in assuming that Jocelyn is about to leave her mouldering existence behind, but how she does so is the sparkling, cheerful plot of Much Dithering.
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‘An excellent evening’s entertainment’ reported the Dover Express (3 January 1934) of two plays staged a couple of days earlier by the Shepherdswell Village Players. The reviewer gave full details of the event, mentioning that the second of the plays, ‘Christmas Party’, written and produced by Mrs. Dorothy Lambert, ‘contained many amusing and delicate scenes’. Among the play’s characters were a ‘Jocelyn’, a ‘Mrs. Goodbun’, and a ‘Colonel Tidmarsh’, all of whom re-appeared four years later, their parts expanded in a full- length novel, Much Dithering. Given by ‘Jocelyn’, catered for by the obliging ‘Mrs. Goodbun’, and attended by, among others, ‘Colonel Tidmarsh’, a Christmas Day party does, indeed, feature in the novel, at the centre of the action a chimney fire, the reactions
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to which sort the Much Dithering sheep from the Much Dithering goats.
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Ermyntrude Lascelles, widowed for the second time, felt that Fate had treated her shabbily in removing her George just as he was about to get command of his regiment. The rôle of a colonel’s wife would have suited her admirably, and twice it had been almost within reach and then snatched away:

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Being George, within sight of achieving his wife’s ambition, he contracted measles, which led to pneumonia, and so Ermyntrude was a widow who lived in a private hotel in South Kensington and visited her friends with unfailing regularity.
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She disliked her sister-in-law and despised her daughter for her lack of initiative and fondness for good
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works. Jocelyn’s marriage, too, had been such a dreary failure. If only she had been able to keep her husband alive a year longer! But there again Fate had been unkindly freakish, and Lancelot Renshawe died of a chill a few months before his father, so Jocelyn had not achieved what all her relatives had so ardently desired for her. The property that had for centuries belonged to the Renshawes had passed her by and had been inherited by a nephew of whom no one knew
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anything, and Jocelyn, instead of being the Lady of the Manor and a daughter of whom Ermyntrude could be proud (as well as being able to provide a pleasant country house in which to stay), was still a person of no importance, living in a small, old-fashioned and inconvenient dower house, and even that only until the new owner should return.
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Yes, she must certainly keep her eye on Adrian, and a visit to Much Dithering would be an excellent idea. It was very odd the way Fate worked. Who would ever have imagined that Much Dithering would prove a battle- ground in which to pit her wits against those of Adrian’s mother, who would be sure to object to her age?
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Of her success with Adrian she had no doubt whatever. He was completely subjugated, and his capture was so certain that she passed that part over with indifference. He was merely the stepping-stone to the country house she desired and the position of wife to the local Member of Parliament.
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Ermyntrude would have to impress upon Jocelyn that the Murchison-Bellabys were not her sort of people and prevent her coming into contact with them if possible. And yet, if Jocelyn did not call and make their acquaintance, how could she in her turn get to know them? The point was exasperating. At all events, Adrian must not meet Jocelyn

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until he was safely booked to be her stepfather.
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First of all I absolutely disliked Ermyntrude and especially her thinking that she is something grand and her daughter worthless. At first I thought Mrs. Renshawe was a terrible brute, but when Miss Palfrey tries to marry her niece off to the older Colonel, Mrs. Renshawe questions the sense of this. After Blythe tells his plans to marry Jocelyn and leave his aunt in charge of the place, which is what she wanted, she was indeed in good humor. When the Murchison-Bellabys first were mentioned having a son Adrian, I had thought nothing between Adrian and Ermyntrude was there, only in her mind, I had thought Adrian would be with Jocelyn until the stranger, Blythe showed up. It became clear Adrian a worthless cad that would have been attracted to many females and especially a designing older one. I did not feel too sorry for him but I cannot understand how his mother would let him marry someone that would probably not give her grandchildren, Jocelyn, her daughter is 25, and woman with family background but so self centered. I felt Victor married unlucky because either Jasmine will be a good wife or get him into trouble. I suppose he will reign her in. If I had not seen in the Kindle highlights on Blythe's last name, I might have suspected but would be kind of surprised that he was indeed the heir. He looks to be in his early forties and ready to settle down but still have adventures with his wife and future children. Tidmarsh deserved Ermyntrude but he will luck out and get a nice Miss Palfrey to help his elderly years be more comfortable.


*** Much Dithering is where Ermyntrude Lascelles plans to catch husband number three Adrian Murchison-Bellabys. Her husband died before his title realized and her daughter Jocelyn's husband died before his father so the estate goes to a cousin. Ermyntrude does not want Ardrian to meet her daughter until the marriage is over.

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“I’ll tell Leopold,” Mrs. Murchison-Bellaby assured her. “We’ll be sure to come regularly, and our young people, too. I have great hopes that my son will like the place, and that some day he will leave the Army and marry and settle here and stand for Parliament. That’s my ambition.”
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“Of course there’s the Honourable Augusta at the Priory. She’s the widow of our late lamented Lord of the Manor and a bit antiquated in her views, I fear.” “In fact, a frump,” broke in Jasmine rudely. “No good! Go on— who else?” “Then there’s Miss Pallfrey at Green Gates—a dear; but you’ll call her a frump, too, I’m afraid. And then there’s her niece Jocelyn Renshawe. She’s quite young
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and my right hand in the parish. I’d be lost without her. You’ll love her—every one does—and you’ll be very good for her.” She paused and looked Jasmine over. “Yes, you’ll be very good for her. She’s almost too good, though I, the vicar’s wife, say so. She’s young in years, but she has never been allowed to enjoy her youth. Her aunt brought her up, and she was married off at eighteen to young Lancelot Renshawe, who was—well, to be blunt, not quite mental, but soft. Then he died some
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time ago, and she is still ordered about by her aunt and mother-in-law. I’d like to see Jocelyn young. You must shake her up.”
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“There is Colonel Tidmarsh, a retired Army man—very pleasant, but a little gloomy, poor fellow. He is a widower, and I fear has never got over the death of his wife.” “How tiresome!” Mrs. Pomfret put a finger to her lip. “Ah, but I think he is on the mend. I’m sure he admires Jocelyn Renshawe, and I think it would be quite a good thing for her, if nothing else turned up—not lively, of course—but she won’t expect liveliness—and it

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would be a comfort to her aunt to leave her in safe hands when she dies.” “It sounds a pretty poor idea to me,” scoffed Jasmine, “to be left in safe hands. Heavens, give me a spice of danger! I want to be alive. Safety doesn’t appeal to me.” “I dare say not, but every one has her own point of view. I’m glad to say Jocelyn is full of common sense and is never likely to seek for excitement or danger.”

*** Jasmine Murchinson-Bellabys is 20; her mother and herself visit the vicar's wife, Mrs. Pomfret. They are told about the residents who seem boring. Jocelyn's story of being a too good and kind widow but Jasmine is not interested in her story. Her brother Adrian is a trouble maker according to Jasmine.

[María · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5⭐️

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Coming off the back of LOTE, which I loved, I wasn't sure what to read next as it was bound to disappoint in comparison. I can't even remember how Much Dithering ended up on my TBR list, but it had languished there for a couple of years and I always scrolled past it until yesterday, when the cover spoke to me for the first time. It turns out that the image on the cover is a painting of Nancy Cunard, one of the Bright Young Things who the protagonist of LOTE was transfuxed by! I didn't realise this until the end of the book, but it still tickled me.

Once you get beyond the cover the connections between these two books are less obvious. Where LOTE is a meditation on luxury and decadence in a strange and unknowable European town, Much Dithering relishes the all-seeing eye of life in a tiny English village in the 1930s. Everyone knows everyone - well, everyone worth knowing. I got a feel of budget Mapp and Lucia - lots of gossipy ladies interfering in each other's lives. Coincidences, misunderstandings, Cupid's arrows flinging inappropriately all over the place.

It's all very twee and a bit like watching one of those terribly unfashionable (and occasionally decidedly problematic) drawing room comedies that pack out middle-aged matinees at regional theatres, but I quite like things like that. It's hammy froth, quite fun and quaintly funny.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this because of the title. Turned out that Much Dithering was the name of the village in which the book takes place, but the title is apt in other ways. A perfectly delightful comedy of manners of the between-the-wars years. You’ll guess the “big secret” right away, but that won’t spoil your enjoyment for a minute. I wish there were more Dorothy Lambert novels available.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel that it took me until at least halfway through this novel to learn how to dance the foxtrot with Dorothy Lambert's writing. Intense, although necessarily whimsical; albeit a clever portrayal of life in a traditional village.

My only qualm with it was Mrs Renshawe marrying a man so different in habits and lifestyle. It offends my beliefs that a good match between a man and a woman requires symmetry on all fronts. A dull and boring do-gooder should go with another person who is a stay at home, dull and boring do-gooder.

Quite a nice read though, so 2.5 stars from me for her efforts.

N.B And might I add at the risk of sounding corny, that there was "Much Dithering" in regards to my reading of this one, as other books that I wanted to read came to the fore after my commencement of it.

[Tina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yeesh!! I expected this 1938 novel (a Dean Street Press reissue--I generally love these) to be frothy and predictable, and it is. But I did NOT expect it to be fraught with pages and pages of annoying infodumps and interminable run-on sentences. I sped through it, but not with delight; I just wanted to be finished. Things let up a bit in the middle, when characters actually have conversations. But this author really did not learn the "show, don't tell" rule. It's too bad, as the premise was appealing and the romance was nice enough, but the characters are thinly written and not as charming as they're meant to be. Overall, this was a disappointment.

[Miss Bridgerton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much Dithering, un pueblo donde la monotonía está a punto de terminar.

Dorothy Lambert nos presenta Much Dithering, el pueblo ideal para escapar de todo, donde nadie iría a divertirse, pero si a descansar, sin embargo, todo está por cambiar, nuevos vecinos, visitas inesperadas y una serie de hechos alterará la paz de unos habitantes que están atados al pasado, imposibilitados para ver la realidad de una vida que avanza y que deja atrás prejuicios y mentalidades cerradas fruto de la ignorancia y del miedo al cambio.

➞ Link de la reseña completa: https://florecilladecereza.blogspot.c...

[William Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Utterly charming, rural romantic absurdism, Jane Austen meets Woodhouse—not as antic as Woodhouse but not by much. While entirely predictable per the genre, the plot is twisty enough and the characters funny and exasperating (and exasperated) enough that one happily dives in. The writing is, as Homer says of one his characters rhetorical skills, “sweeter than honey.” It’s a crime against life that none of Lamberts other books are in print and few are available in libraries anywhere.

[Adrienne · Rating 1 out of 5]

A clever title, attached to a very disappointing book. I know that this book is “ of its time,” but I found the casual xenophobia and anti- Semitism throughout to be very off- putting, to say the least. The characters were dull, flat, and completely unengaging. It was short, so I finished it, but I don’t recommend this one.

[Johanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very much of its time, with attitudes which feel 'wrong' to a modern reader. The characters were lightly drawn with little depth, the situations they found themselves in often comical. Reminded me of Mapp and Lucia but without the lightness of writing.

[Ana RLQP]

3.5⭐️Terminado . Libro ameno y bien escrito, que nos acerca a la forma de vida y de la primera mitad del siglo pasado. Libro entretenido que permite desconectar de rutinas y útil para combinar con otros densos .

[Angela Tuson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sweet and cosy romance, entirely predictable, but made more worthwhile by the growth and change of the heroine (described in the beginning as 'a species of cabbage'). A few laugh out loud moments. Perfect for a rainy day in a warm chair with a cup of tea and tin of biscuits.

[Andi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fun, escapist book, this one from 1938

[Debbie Cole-Weber · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. I was hoping for something a little more clever.