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Miss Plum and Miss Penny
“I do not anticipate for one moment that Miss Plum has been murdered, though I should have some slight sympathy with her assassin if she had.” Miss Penny is a middle-aged spinster living a cheerful, contented life, complete with perfect housekeeper, in an idyllic English village. Her romantic life consists of an annual Christmas card from her old flame George, and her social swirl involves Stanley, a prissy neighbour who keeps her in mind for a future wife, and Hubert, a neurotic widowed priest with an alienated son. Into this stable life comes Miss Plum, whom Miss Penny saves from drowning herself in a duck pond and takes into her quiet, orderly home. The villagers embrace the perpetually weepy, forlorn young woman—at first. But soon her welcome wears thin. With joyfully dark comedy, hilariously odd locals, and an unexpected reappearance from long-lost George, Dorothy Evelyn Smith brilliantly evokes the havoc wreaked by social niceties, misplaced sympathies, and keeping up appearances—not to mention the urge to defend one’s peaceful existence.
214 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1959
104 people are currently reading
1061 people want to read
About the author
Dorothy Evelyn Smith
17 books54 followersDorothy Evelyn Smith was born in Derby, England, the daughter of a Methodist parson. She first began to write successfully for English magazines while her husband was serving in the First World War. Thereafter her short stories and articles steadily reached a wide market, though her work was subject to interruptions from her growing daughter and son and their prodigious number of pets. In 1939, when most English magazines went off the market, Mrs. Smith began her first novel, interrupted this time by her war work. Often she wrote "on the end of the kitchen table with bombs falling around the house," and part of her first novel was finished while she was confined to bed with an injured leg.
Now that peace had come, Mrs. Smith wrote in her own small study in the three-hundred-year-old cottage in Essex.
Now that peace had come, Mrs. Smith wrote in her own small study in the three-hundred-year-old cottage in Essex.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 126 reviews
March 17, 2016
So this was my very first inter-library loan, can you believe it? And it was from within our library's coalition so it was freeeee! I really love Dorothy Evelyn Smith and have been collecting her books for some time but this particular title is extremely rare so I was very happy to find I was able to borrow it.
In a nutshell, Miss Penny is a content 40 year old spinster. She's had her chances at marriage but decided against it and has lived her life as her own for the last twenty years. Every year on her birthday she receives a card from the man she might have married and spends a few minutes playing "what if" but that's as far as it goes. However, on her fortieth, no card arrives. Instead, she goes into town and rescues a young woman trying to drown herself in a duck pond. The young woman is Miss Plum. Miss Penny out of charity takes her in....but can't seem to get her out.
What I love about this author's work is that there's never a 'hidden agenda' by the author. The characters are just so real. No one is perfect. They don't always do things out of the correct motive. They're very relatable. You get the feeling that they live, move and exist without the author's authority and I really love that.
Another thing I appreciate is that after all is said and done there's no magic formula for happiness like you find in most books, you know, marriage/children= happiness. It may or it may not. Happiness isn't an attainable object, it's a state of being. And that means it's within reach of everyone.
In a nutshell, Miss Penny is a content 40 year old spinster. She's had her chances at marriage but decided against it and has lived her life as her own for the last twenty years. Every year on her birthday she receives a card from the man she might have married and spends a few minutes playing "what if" but that's as far as it goes. However, on her fortieth, no card arrives. Instead, she goes into town and rescues a young woman trying to drown herself in a duck pond. The young woman is Miss Plum. Miss Penny out of charity takes her in....but can't seem to get her out.
What I love about this author's work is that there's never a 'hidden agenda' by the author. The characters are just so real. No one is perfect. They don't always do things out of the correct motive. They're very relatable. You get the feeling that they live, move and exist without the author's authority and I really love that.
Another thing I appreciate is that after all is said and done there's no magic formula for happiness like you find in most books, you know, marriage/children= happiness. It may or it may not. Happiness isn't an attainable object, it's a state of being. And that means it's within reach of everyone.
April 9, 2022
Wow...this author is not very well known which is sad. I liked her novel, that was originally published in 1959, and reissued by Dean Street Press in 2020. I say she isn’t very well known because she does not have a Wikipedia entry. Someone ought to do something about that. 🤨 🤨 🤨
Don’t look at me. 😐 😑 😬
Miss Penny does a good deed by apparently saving Miss Plum who is apparently suicidal from drowning in a lake that is not very deep. Miss Plum was fairly despondent even when she was little because children would make fun of her last name. Why that would be is beyond me... I could think of worse last names. Anyhoo, once Miss Penny who is 40 years old, and is considered a spinster, saves Miss Plum (who is 20 years old or so), she takes Miss Plum into her home because there doesn’t seem anywhere else that she can go, and she doesn’t want Miss Plum to go back to the lake.
So what happens to Miss Plum? How about Miss Penny...is she destined to remain a spinster? You know, about a third of the way into the book, a long-lost flame comes back into her life, George. Perhaps she does not remain a spinster after all! 😉 🙃 All I can say is that it is a nice read that won’t weigh your head down...and not too long.
It’s the only book of Smith’s that Dean Street Press apparently has published. The British Library Women Writers Series has published an earlier book of hers, O, the Brave Music (https://www.cavalierhousebooks.com/wo... ). I think I will explore her books further.
Reviews:
• Great review! http://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.co...
• https://bagfullofbooks.com/2020/11/07...
Don’t look at me. 😐 😑 😬
Miss Penny does a good deed by apparently saving Miss Plum who is apparently suicidal from drowning in a lake that is not very deep. Miss Plum was fairly despondent even when she was little because children would make fun of her last name. Why that would be is beyond me... I could think of worse last names. Anyhoo, once Miss Penny who is 40 years old, and is considered a spinster, saves Miss Plum (who is 20 years old or so), she takes Miss Plum into her home because there doesn’t seem anywhere else that she can go, and she doesn’t want Miss Plum to go back to the lake.
So what happens to Miss Plum? How about Miss Penny...is she destined to remain a spinster? You know, about a third of the way into the book, a long-lost flame comes back into her life, George. Perhaps she does not remain a spinster after all! 😉 🙃 All I can say is that it is a nice read that won’t weigh your head down...and not too long.
It’s the only book of Smith’s that Dean Street Press apparently has published. The British Library Women Writers Series has published an earlier book of hers, O, the Brave Music (https://www.cavalierhousebooks.com/wo... ). I think I will explore her books further.
Reviews:
• Great review! http://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.co...
• https://bagfullofbooks.com/2020/11/07...
Read
October 2, 2020A quiet, acutely observed, empathetic, and deeply unkind delight. Miss Penny has just turned 40 when her quiet village life is upended by Miss Plum, the random woman she prevents from drowning herself in a duck pond. Miss Plum is one of those people who will take a mile but not a shred of responsibility (which is never her fault of course *cue tears*) and tbh a lot of the fun here is the tension between Miss Penny's decency and kindness and her well founded desire to give the bloody woman what-for. Add in enjoyable pen portraits of the other villagers and this is an absorbing read that reminds you of that line about there being a splinter of ice in the heart of the artist.
October 5, 2022
On the day Miss Penny turns 40, a major change occurs in her life. She happens upon Miss Plum who seems intent on drowning herself. Miss Penny rescues her and takes her in and so now her life is about to take an unpleasant turn.
Miss Penny is a sympathetic, kind woman. Miss Plum is a snivelling, whining, helpless individual. I wouldn’t have lasted one day with her. But is there more to Miss Plum than meets the eye? Is Miss Penny going to surface from this unscathed?
Seriously, it was a wonderful read with a foreboding undertone. There are lots of wonderfully drawn supporting characters. There are some laugh out loud moments. My first book by this author and definitely not my last.
Published: 1959
Miss Penny is a sympathetic, kind woman. Miss Plum is a snivelling, whining, helpless individual. I wouldn’t have lasted one day with her. But is there more to Miss Plum than meets the eye? Is Miss Penny going to surface from this unscathed?
Seriously, it was a wonderful read with a foreboding undertone. There are lots of wonderfully drawn supporting characters. There are some laugh out loud moments. My first book by this author and definitely not my last.
Published: 1959
October 7, 2022
A curious novel from the late 1950s, at first I thought this was set to be a variation on earlier, “cosy”, interwar fiction like Miss Buncle’s Book but it’s actually far stranger. Miss Penny is a spinster settled in a picturesque Yorkshire village. Her life is a round of ritual and routine. Every year on her birthday she receives a letter from her girlhood suitor George, someone she lost a as a result of her parents’ disapproval. She has a faithful but plain-spoken housekeeper Ada and two possible candidates for marriage in the slovenly Hubert and the urbane Stanley. But on her fortieth birthday her carefully orchestrated life comes under threat when circumstances lead to her taking in the melancholy Miss Plum. The result is a wonderfully perverse twist on conventional narratives of English village society. Dorothy Evelyn Smith probes questions of gender, class, cultural expectations and their impact on unmarried women of the era - and does so in a style that’s reminiscent of E. F. Benson crossed with Barbara Pym, her prose laced with flashes of broad humour and acid wit. She also creates some interesting parallels with - what’s to Miss Penny anyway - a scandalous take on small communities in the form of Dylan Thomas’s Under Millk Wood. His eccentric exploration of a Welsh town riddled with sinister undercurrents. I relished the wintry Yorkshire landscapes and loved Ada’s character as well as Smith’s inventive subversion of standard marriage plots. Although I wasn’t entirely sure what Smith intended with her portrayal of Stanley and the villagers’ assumptions about his sexuality, and I wasn’t keen on the scenes centring George. But overall, unexpectedly fascinating and often very entertaining.
Rating: 3/3.5
Rating: 3/3.5
October 2, 2020
I have been wanting to read this for a long time so I was very pleased to see that Furrowed Middlebrow were bringing it back into print. It was worth the wait.
Miss Penny is celebrating her 40th birthday in the opening of the novel. She is a spinster, but perfectly contented with her life, though not so much with the bed jackets that her live-in servant Ada makes for her every birthday. Her day takes an unexpected turn when she stops a woman from trying to drown herself in the village duckpond, and takes her home. Miss Penny is a very likeable character, despite wishing at times she'd left Miss Plum too it, (after all, she wouldn't really have been able to go through with it). Miss Plum arouses people's sympathies but also their frustrations.
Again in this novel, the characters seem very real, not the idealised characters that we often come across in these cosy village novel, and the novel itself is not as cosy as the opening scene would suggest.
Miss Penny is celebrating her 40th birthday in the opening of the novel. She is a spinster, but perfectly contented with her life, though not so much with the bed jackets that her live-in servant Ada makes for her every birthday. Her day takes an unexpected turn when she stops a woman from trying to drown herself in the village duckpond, and takes her home. Miss Penny is a very likeable character, despite wishing at times she'd left Miss Plum too it, (after all, she wouldn't really have been able to go through with it). Miss Plum arouses people's sympathies but also their frustrations.
Again in this novel, the characters seem very real, not the idealised characters that we often come across in these cosy village novel, and the novel itself is not as cosy as the opening scene would suggest.
October 13, 2020
It is lovely when you see than a book that you have seen praised, that you are sure that you will love, but that is impossible to find is being sent back into the world; and it is even lovelier when that book more than lives up to very high expectations.
This is the book that makes me say that, and it has been sent back into the world by the lovely Furrowed Middlebrow imprint of the Dean Street Press.
The story begins as Alison Penny wakes on her fortieth birthday in the family home that she inherited. She is unmarried and quite happy with her situation. She lives with Ada, an old family retainer who has become her housekeeper, friend and companion. Ada loves Alison dearly, she is very protective of her, and treats her as a beloved daughter, without ever forgetting that Alison is her employer. It is a state of affairs that the two women are very happy with.
Alison has never married and is quite happy with the way her life has turned out. She could have married, but her protective parents disapproved of George, and she accepted that they were right to stand in his way. He sent Alison a letter every year, timed to reach her on her birthday, and over the years they came from far and wide as George travelled far and wide and rarely stayed still.
There was no letter from George on Alison’s fortieth birthday. Ada was indignant but Alison decided that she should be philosophical: she would go out, to have lunch and to see a film.
Alison’s plan’s came to nothing, because she took a walk in the park. She saw a young woman who was clearly very upset, she turned away to allow her privacy and spare her embarrassment; but when she glanced back she saw that the young woman seemed intent on throwing herself into the duck pond and she knew she had to act. She decided that the local YWCA would be sure to care for her and get her back on her feet, but she found that they had no room and so she decided that all she could do was take her home and do that job herself.
The unfortunately named Miss Victoria Plum was wonderfully grateful.
I said you were either an angel or just plain crazy. Now I think you’re both. Maybe all angels are crazy. I wouldn’t know. I never met one before.
However, once she was installed in the bed in the spare room she showed no sign of reviving, shrinking back under the covers at the slightest hint that she might be able to make progress. Ada was cynical from the start, and as days passed by Alison began to think that she might be right.
Alison turned to her two dearest friends for advice. There was Stanley, who was a single man with a lovely home, where he had things exactly as he liked and was ministered to a marvellous housekeeper who understood him perfectly. And there was Hubert, the local vicar, whose life was not nearly so well ordered, and who struggled with his relationship with his teenage son. They listened, they expressed concern, but they didn’t quite understand the problem.
When Ada broke her ankle and Alison went down with a bad case of influenza, Miss Plum rallied. She cared for them both with a great deal of concern but rather a lack of competence.
Alison was grateful, but her anxiety about the young woman and the position she found herself in continued to grow.
Today was Miss Plum’s first day downstairs. How, then, had she been aware of the sofa bed in the breakfast room? How had she been able to lay hands with such unerring precision on teapot and tea caddy, milk, sugar and biscuits? How had she known where the spare hot-water bottles were kept?
Even when Ada and Alison had both recovered it seemed that their guest had become a fixture, and so many things happened to stop even a delicate question about her plans being asked. Miss Plum had been accepted into village life, Christmas was coming, and a quite unexpected visitor appeared ….
Miss Plum had sprung the tenderest trap of all – the trap of compassion – and they were all caught in it, helpless, bewildered.
There are many things that set this book above many of its peers.
The plot was beautifully constructed, and its mixing of cosiness with something that was rather darker was wonderfully effective.
I found it very easy to understand and emphasise with all of the characters, Alison most of all, especially when she knew that what she wanted was reasonable but she also knew that expressing or acting on her feelings would not be well received. All of the characters were real fallible human beings, who I knew must have had stories before this book began and would have stories after it ended.
The village felt just as real. It wasn’t a story-book village, it felt like a real village, that maybe my grandmother might have known somebody who lived there.
The telling of the story was lovely, it had both warmth and clarity, and it was clear that the story-teller had both the understanding of everything she wrote about and the wisdom to be unobtrusive,
All of the elements worked together so well, to make a very good story that held me from the first page to the last.
This is the book that makes me say that, and it has been sent back into the world by the lovely Furrowed Middlebrow imprint of the Dean Street Press.
The story begins as Alison Penny wakes on her fortieth birthday in the family home that she inherited. She is unmarried and quite happy with her situation. She lives with Ada, an old family retainer who has become her housekeeper, friend and companion. Ada loves Alison dearly, she is very protective of her, and treats her as a beloved daughter, without ever forgetting that Alison is her employer. It is a state of affairs that the two women are very happy with.
Alison has never married and is quite happy with the way her life has turned out. She could have married, but her protective parents disapproved of George, and she accepted that they were right to stand in his way. He sent Alison a letter every year, timed to reach her on her birthday, and over the years they came from far and wide as George travelled far and wide and rarely stayed still.
There was no letter from George on Alison’s fortieth birthday. Ada was indignant but Alison decided that she should be philosophical: she would go out, to have lunch and to see a film.
Alison’s plan’s came to nothing, because she took a walk in the park. She saw a young woman who was clearly very upset, she turned away to allow her privacy and spare her embarrassment; but when she glanced back she saw that the young woman seemed intent on throwing herself into the duck pond and she knew she had to act. She decided that the local YWCA would be sure to care for her and get her back on her feet, but she found that they had no room and so she decided that all she could do was take her home and do that job herself.
The unfortunately named Miss Victoria Plum was wonderfully grateful.
I said you were either an angel or just plain crazy. Now I think you’re both. Maybe all angels are crazy. I wouldn’t know. I never met one before.
However, once she was installed in the bed in the spare room she showed no sign of reviving, shrinking back under the covers at the slightest hint that she might be able to make progress. Ada was cynical from the start, and as days passed by Alison began to think that she might be right.
Alison turned to her two dearest friends for advice. There was Stanley, who was a single man with a lovely home, where he had things exactly as he liked and was ministered to a marvellous housekeeper who understood him perfectly. And there was Hubert, the local vicar, whose life was not nearly so well ordered, and who struggled with his relationship with his teenage son. They listened, they expressed concern, but they didn’t quite understand the problem.
When Ada broke her ankle and Alison went down with a bad case of influenza, Miss Plum rallied. She cared for them both with a great deal of concern but rather a lack of competence.
Alison was grateful, but her anxiety about the young woman and the position she found herself in continued to grow.
Today was Miss Plum’s first day downstairs. How, then, had she been aware of the sofa bed in the breakfast room? How had she been able to lay hands with such unerring precision on teapot and tea caddy, milk, sugar and biscuits? How had she known where the spare hot-water bottles were kept?
Even when Ada and Alison had both recovered it seemed that their guest had become a fixture, and so many things happened to stop even a delicate question about her plans being asked. Miss Plum had been accepted into village life, Christmas was coming, and a quite unexpected visitor appeared ….
Miss Plum had sprung the tenderest trap of all – the trap of compassion – and they were all caught in it, helpless, bewildered.
There are many things that set this book above many of its peers.
The plot was beautifully constructed, and its mixing of cosiness with something that was rather darker was wonderfully effective.
I found it very easy to understand and emphasise with all of the characters, Alison most of all, especially when she knew that what she wanted was reasonable but she also knew that expressing or acting on her feelings would not be well received. All of the characters were real fallible human beings, who I knew must have had stories before this book began and would have stories after it ended.
The village felt just as real. It wasn’t a story-book village, it felt like a real village, that maybe my grandmother might have known somebody who lived there.
The telling of the story was lovely, it had both warmth and clarity, and it was clear that the story-teller had both the understanding of everything she wrote about and the wisdom to be unobtrusive,
All of the elements worked together so well, to make a very good story that held me from the first page to the last.
August 14, 2020
The coziest of British cozies, utterly lacking in mystery but abounding with charm. Smith is one of those mid-century writers who fell out of fashion, but through wonderful publishers like Perspehone and Furrowed Middlebrow Press, are getting a encore now. The characters here are as finely drawn as Jane Austen's or E.F. Benson's, and Smith presents their lives with heart and humor.
January 8, 2012
Really like this quirky story of an English village in the 1950's. Miss Penny rescues Miss Plum and then becomes responsible for her, to her dismay. Very dated, but part of what I liked about it.
June 3, 2021
This was a page turner of a read that I couldn't put down. When there's just enough outrageousness happening in a story that, as the reader, you are compelled into the novel... it's a good one. It was such a charming story that took some odd turns and twists.
Miss Penny, leads a content and organized life. She's inherited her parents' home and lives comfortably with her housekeeper that she's known since girlhood. Both have their structure and routines. When Miss Penny doesn't receive her yearly birthday card from her jilted lover, George, the order of her life begins to be thrown off course. She takes a walk to clear her mind and sort the thoughts in her head. When she stumbles upon Miss Plum about to do the unthinkable act of walking into the pond and entering in her final abyss. Sternly ordering her to stop, Miss Penny takes her home and her life ensues into subsequent chaos. Her standby gentleman friends- Stanley and Hubert take an interest in Miss Plum as does others in the village. The quiet order of Miss Penny's life is no more and she must find a way to get rid of Miss Plum. Then George suddenly turns up and begins his "courtly" pursuit of Miss Penny. This was a fun read, though with some dated/problematic themes modern readers might take offense too. As a trigger warning: George is very incorrect in his treatment of women. He's overbearing, forces his attentions on them, and gets physical to make his point. Very much like a 1930's movie- where the guy always seems to grab the girl and shake her to profess his love/or point he's trying to make. And the ending will make you raise an eyebrow in disapproval.
Overall, as a homebody who loves order and routine, Miss Penny had my sympathies. I loved seeing her mood and outlook change through the course of the book. She started out as a dreamer wondering about adventure and "what if" and in the end, found her happiness in her village life with her friends.
Miss Penny, leads a content and organized life. She's inherited her parents' home and lives comfortably with her housekeeper that she's known since girlhood. Both have their structure and routines. When Miss Penny doesn't receive her yearly birthday card from her jilted lover, George, the order of her life begins to be thrown off course. She takes a walk to clear her mind and sort the thoughts in her head. When she stumbles upon Miss Plum about to do the unthinkable act of walking into the pond and entering in her final abyss. Sternly ordering her to stop, Miss Penny takes her home and her life ensues into subsequent chaos. Her standby gentleman friends- Stanley and Hubert take an interest in Miss Plum as does others in the village. The quiet order of Miss Penny's life is no more and she must find a way to get rid of Miss Plum. Then George suddenly turns up and begins his "courtly" pursuit of Miss Penny. This was a fun read, though with some dated/problematic themes modern readers might take offense too. As a trigger warning: George is very incorrect in his treatment of women. He's overbearing, forces his attentions on them, and gets physical to make his point. Very much like a 1930's movie- where the guy always seems to grab the girl and shake her to profess his love/or point he's trying to make. And the ending will make you raise an eyebrow in disapproval.
Overall, as a homebody who loves order and routine, Miss Penny had my sympathies. I loved seeing her mood and outlook change through the course of the book. She started out as a dreamer wondering about adventure and "what if" and in the end, found her happiness in her village life with her friends.
June 19, 2015
This story didn't end up where I thought it would. Miss Penny, a spinster, wakes on her 40th birthday with small but pleasant plans of how she will spend her day. From the outset things don't go as she had anticipated. Part of what changes the course of her day is her rescue of Miss Plum. She then, rather unwillingly, feels responsible for Miss Plum's well-being. She takes her home and cares for her until she recovers. Two months later, Miss Plum has made quite an impression on the residents of this small English village. I enjoyed the progression of the characters in this story. Every one of them is flawed. I found it humorous to watch them as they came to terms with Miss Plum, Miss Penny and themselves.
July 10, 2021
A Middlebrow English village women's novel of 1959. (Contains one racist term near the end.)
Do men need women? Do women need men? Not if you have a cozy home, an annual income based upon accrued capital/ inheritance, and a fine working-class housekeeper. In 1959 Yorkshire you also needed strong legs for walking and a good number of hot-water bottles.
Miss Plum is penniless and bent upon suicide when Miss Penny saves her and brings her home to recover.
Miss Plum is probably on the make from the start (see Mr. Wickham from J. Austen.) - but how could she not be with no resources? - she does what she can. There is a widowed vicar, a retired gay stockbroker, a brash teenager, and an unsuitable lover (correctly) rebuffed by Miss Penny's parents twenty years before. (Now, ostensibly rich, he is still more unsuitable.) There are Ada, Miss Platt, and Mrs. Hartley doing all of the cooking and cleaning, leaving the men and Miss Penny doing all sorts of unpaid work to keep the village institutions - Cubs, old folks, Women's Institute, YWCA - going.
Best scene: Miss Plum crawling into bed with Miss Penny who avows that in forty years she has never shared a bed with any human being.
The marriage proposal is fun, as well. It was a competent and fun novel that asks serious questions about the nature of a good-enough life, but is mired in the class system of its own time and place.
Did I mention the hot-water bottles?
Do men need women? Do women need men? Not if you have a cozy home, an annual income based upon accrued capital/ inheritance, and a fine working-class housekeeper. In 1959 Yorkshire you also needed strong legs for walking and a good number of hot-water bottles.
Miss Plum is penniless and bent upon suicide when Miss Penny saves her and brings her home to recover.
Miss Plum is probably on the make from the start (see Mr. Wickham from J. Austen.) - but how could she not be with no resources? - she does what she can. There is a widowed vicar, a retired gay stockbroker, a brash teenager, and an unsuitable lover (correctly) rebuffed by Miss Penny's parents twenty years before. (Now, ostensibly rich, he is still more unsuitable.) There are Ada, Miss Platt, and Mrs. Hartley doing all of the cooking and cleaning, leaving the men and Miss Penny doing all sorts of unpaid work to keep the village institutions - Cubs, old folks, Women's Institute, YWCA - going.
Best scene: Miss Plum crawling into bed with Miss Penny who avows that in forty years she has never shared a bed with any human being.
The marriage proposal is fun, as well. It was a competent and fun novel that asks serious questions about the nature of a good-enough life, but is mired in the class system of its own time and place.
Did I mention the hot-water bottles?
March 26, 2021
This book was an interesting take on postwar British life. Not knowing a lot about this period in England, I wasn't familiar with the need to turn on the hot water heater every time someone wanted to take a bath. It's so strange to think that not too long ago, people were still being hassled by the daily inconveniences of living.
As far as plot goes, it was really hard to relate to Miss Plum. I vacillated between sympathy and irritation for her. I was puzzled by how long it took Miss Penny to get fed up with her. It was a nice trip backwards in history to get to know the characters and their history.
Smith had some poignant thoughts about what it was like for an unmarried woman at this time (and somewhat still today) and the pressures of the community to marry her off, happily or not. Smith's solution for Miss Penny was an unusual one for the time, especially since she was not writing from her own experience.
I don't think this book was as amusing as it was implied but it was an interesting glimpse into the past.
As far as plot goes, it was really hard to relate to Miss Plum. I vacillated between sympathy and irritation for her. I was puzzled by how long it took Miss Penny to get fed up with her. It was a nice trip backwards in history to get to know the characters and their history.
Smith had some poignant thoughts about what it was like for an unmarried woman at this time (and somewhat still today) and the pressures of the community to marry her off, happily or not. Smith's solution for Miss Penny was an unusual one for the time, especially since she was not writing from her own experience.
I don't think this book was as amusing as it was implied but it was an interesting glimpse into the past.
May 18, 2021
Clearly, in my past life I used to be a well-off spinster in a close-knit British village with a passion for gardening, knitting socks, and having sardines with one egg for tea. I can't explain this addiction to British novels otherwise.
January 1, 2021
Thank you Russell Gray at Ink & Paper Blog for this wonderful recommendation.
August 30, 2021
This was my first novel by Dorothy Evelyn Smith and there were parts of it that I liked very much.
It starts with the lead character, Allison Penny, evaluating her life choices on the day of her 40th birthday. Just around the corner are some unexpected events that will upset her carefully ordered life. The book is full of interesting characters (three of them being possible love interests) and shows how Allison's growth in self-awareness helps her to make the right choices about her future.
I liked Allison (but never really learned to love her). I applauded her for willingness to live a faithful (yet prosaic) life rather than throw it all away for the adventurous (intrinsically selfish) invitations offered to her.
I liked the writing: "It was not yet dark, but the shops were lighting up and looking almost festive, as if the spirit of Christmas, still more than a month away, already showed a tentative smile."
I liked it that Smith found a convincing way for the spineless vicar and his twit of a son to be reconciled to each other.
What I didn't like was the way that she tied up the two loose-ends in the novel. It was totally out of character for the boorish Casanova figure to choose to settle down with a woman who would never, in reality, make him even vaguely interested in coming home at night.
It starts with the lead character, Allison Penny, evaluating her life choices on the day of her 40th birthday. Just around the corner are some unexpected events that will upset her carefully ordered life. The book is full of interesting characters (three of them being possible love interests) and shows how Allison's growth in self-awareness helps her to make the right choices about her future.
I liked Allison (but never really learned to love her). I applauded her for willingness to live a faithful (yet prosaic) life rather than throw it all away for the adventurous (intrinsically selfish) invitations offered to her.
I liked the writing: "It was not yet dark, but the shops were lighting up and looking almost festive, as if the spirit of Christmas, still more than a month away, already showed a tentative smile."
I liked it that Smith found a convincing way for the spineless vicar and his twit of a son to be reconciled to each other.
What I didn't like was the way that she tied up the two loose-ends in the novel. It was totally out of character for the boorish Casanova figure to choose to settle down with a woman who would never, in reality, make him even vaguely interested in coming home at night.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 15, 2021
Not sure what to make of this one. At first, I thought it was going to be a cozy village story of how one woman rescued another and enriched her own life in the process. But that was quickly out the window as the story took a sinister turn and Miss Plum went from poor lost lamb to Eve Harrington. Eventually it shakes out into a story that seems to be about people facing an opportunity to change their lives and opting to stay where they are. I'm not sure if we're supposed to be disappointed that Miss Penny didn't grab her chance at romance (I wasn't) or feel sorry for her that she never really grew up (I didn't). George was appalling, and Miss Penny's village life seemed quite charming. (And anyway, the George-Plum connection was the perfect solution; they absolutely deserved each other.) All in all, an odd and not particularly satisfying read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 9, 2015
I knew where this story was going from page one. Except I didn't. The same old stale plot you've seen dozens of times failed to materialize. These were three-dimensional characters with all the contradictions, flaws and weaknesses of real human beings, but nonetheless capable of unexpected moments of grace and beauty. I love coming across these little literary gems that I would never have found without Goodreads.
If you're an Anglophile as I am, or enjoy quiet, character-driven narratives that take surprising turns, you may enjoy this book.
If you're an Anglophile as I am, or enjoy quiet, character-driven narratives that take surprising turns, you may enjoy this book.
September 8, 2021
I picked this up after Russell from Ink and Paper blog recommended it. This is a quiet story about a quiet English village around the Christmas season. Miss Penny is minding her business when miss Plum wanders into a duck pond trying to commit suicide. Miss Penny saves her and brings her home much to the chagrin of her housekeeper, Ada. Drama ensues as Miss Plum inserts herself into village life and Miss Penny regrets her good deed.
December 21, 2020
This five star rating is personal to me. Sometimes the right book comes along at the right time. It may not be great literature but the writer and writing hits the spot and this was one of those books. I thoroughly enjoyed the way the characters thought, the cosy setting and the way the story was laid out and completed. I loved it.
April 3, 2022
I bought this because I thought the cover looked so cosy and I loved the title. I'm glad I did as it was a delightful story with equal measures of warmth and wit and pathos. It was set in Yorkshire and I was totally absorbed with the characters and village life, they were all so real. I loved the descriptions of their homes too. A wonderful novel.
November 5, 2014
A slow starting story. But I'm glad I didn't give up. As a Spinster, I could relate to Ms. Allison 100%. I love how caring she is toward Ms. Plum. Although before it's over with she questions just how nice does one have to be and who can blame her? I usually give up on books that take me no where after a few pages ( I'm too impatient sometimes). But I am very glad that I took a deep breath through the slow start and said, "Show me something great." Because after a couple of chapters this book delivered well. Awesome, but cute and quiet tale.
November 27, 2021
Overall this was a sweet little book. I really liked the setting and the descriptions of the homes and places. The characters were interesting but a little light. Not much really happens, but you can see how everyone will have been changed after the end. Charming book.
April 28, 2020
What an odd little book! Looks like a cosy read but actually full of dark edges.
December 12, 2023
Dorothy Evelyn Smith dips her pen in acid to etch this delightfully spiky story of a wide-eyed innocent cuckoo (Miss Plum) landing in a respectably smug Yorkshire village (Greeth), causing genteel havoc in the process. Smith treats her characters generously (there are few stereotypes) but carefully pins out for us all their little vanities, hypocrisies and lies , which we are ashamed to recognise in ourselves, but enjoy smiling at in others.
There are several PoV characters (of which the chief is Miss Penny), as if Miss Plum herself only exists in other people's gaze (I think - it's a week or two since I finished this). The book's set in the early 60s, but because the focus is on how the characters bounce off each other and because Smith was writing at that time, it doesn't feel like a period piece. The sharp little observational barbs light up the prose throughout: no one is spared.
Like most stories involving a disturber of the peace, there's a circular arc (is that geometrically possible?) that brings the story back to its beginning, with Greeth superficially unchanged by Miss Plum's visit. I particularly liked the story strand dealing with the vicar and his son: it's both shocking and sensitively handled. It's also (this may not be unconnected) the element where there is some personal growth.
A little astringent oddity, and highly recommended.
There are several PoV characters (of which the chief is Miss Penny), as if Miss Plum herself only exists in other people's gaze (I think - it's a week or two since I finished this). The book's set in the early 60s, but because the focus is on how the characters bounce off each other and because Smith was writing at that time, it doesn't feel like a period piece. The sharp little observational barbs light up the prose throughout: no one is spared.
Like most stories involving a disturber of the peace, there's a circular arc (is that geometrically possible?) that brings the story back to its beginning, with Greeth superficially unchanged by Miss Plum's visit. I particularly liked the story strand dealing with the vicar and his son: it's both shocking and sensitively handled. It's also (this may not be unconnected) the element where there is some personal growth.
A little astringent oddity, and highly recommended.
September 13, 2025
Quaint and cozy setting. Loved the themes of found friendship and found happiness. However, each of the characters stayed flat for me. Their motivations were repetitive and felt shallow. I was ready for the end about five chapters earlier…
January 5, 2022
My Interest
What could be nice when needing an audio then to find a Dean Street Press’s Furrowed Middlebrow series title available at my library? Nothing, that’s what! I’ve loved each book in this series that I’ve read. This one, if I remember correctly, is the first I’ve found on audio–the rest I’ve bought for Kindle.
The Story
Alison Penny awakes on her 40th birthday not realizing how much her life is about to be disturbed. She has a faithful servant–Ada, a nice, cozy home, a nice, cozy routine of Church, the Women’s Institute, bridge and what-not and the attention of two potential suitors. Stanley, a rather fussy retired bank manager, and Hubert, the local vicar who is a widower with a son, Ronny, who is generally off at his public [private boarding] school. But, what Alison likes best on her birthday is the annual letter from her first love, George.
Soon though, all of this coziness is shattered when Alison “rescues” [stops] a young woman from drowning herself in the local duck pond. Feeling obligated after getting involved, Alison brings the young woman home to recuperate. Little does she realize that this will upset the balance of her life as well as turn the heads of her suitors.
But wait! There’s more! Low and behold she has another visitor (no spoilers). Life then goes into a sort of social hyperventilation aided by the skating pond being frozen solid and an ice skating frenzy seizing the village! What will Miss Penny do? And, what about Miss Plum–the young woman who now seems to never plan to leave? But, oh, dear, Thursday is the WI. (You’ll need to read the book to understand this line). A glass of port, please.
My Thoughts
Aside from gagging at the thought of canned fruit swimming in Carnation evaporated milk (yuck!), I loved this story. Stanley and Hubert, Ronnie’s wonderful take on things, Ada’s forthright opinions (and the picture she painted of a certain corset–no spoilers), Alison wondering why she stepped out of her niche–it was simply wonderful.
Like Miss Penny, I do wonder why it is the Miss Plums of the world–the vapid, helpless little creatures (or the total #itch-women) who get the men following them like they were the Pied Piper. What’s the attraction? Why is a woman who can take care of herself so unattractive to men? Why are such women always called “threatening.” Why do men feel such women do not “need” them? Age old dilemma.
We reach an age–don’t we? An age at which dating is absurd. Except relationships are essential. Life is routine and routine is comforting–until it is stifling. We need the Miss Plums to happen, we need the Ronnies around for the holiday. We need our trees shaken for our own good. This book does that beautifully.
What could be nice when needing an audio then to find a Dean Street Press’s Furrowed Middlebrow series title available at my library? Nothing, that’s what! I’ve loved each book in this series that I’ve read. This one, if I remember correctly, is the first I’ve found on audio–the rest I’ve bought for Kindle.
The Story
Alison Penny awakes on her 40th birthday not realizing how much her life is about to be disturbed. She has a faithful servant–Ada, a nice, cozy home, a nice, cozy routine of Church, the Women’s Institute, bridge and what-not and the attention of two potential suitors. Stanley, a rather fussy retired bank manager, and Hubert, the local vicar who is a widower with a son, Ronny, who is generally off at his public [private boarding] school. But, what Alison likes best on her birthday is the annual letter from her first love, George.
Soon though, all of this coziness is shattered when Alison “rescues” [stops] a young woman from drowning herself in the local duck pond. Feeling obligated after getting involved, Alison brings the young woman home to recuperate. Little does she realize that this will upset the balance of her life as well as turn the heads of her suitors.
But wait! There’s more! Low and behold she has another visitor (no spoilers). Life then goes into a sort of social hyperventilation aided by the skating pond being frozen solid and an ice skating frenzy seizing the village! What will Miss Penny do? And, what about Miss Plum–the young woman who now seems to never plan to leave? But, oh, dear, Thursday is the WI. (You’ll need to read the book to understand this line). A glass of port, please.
My Thoughts
Aside from gagging at the thought of canned fruit swimming in Carnation evaporated milk (yuck!), I loved this story. Stanley and Hubert, Ronnie’s wonderful take on things, Ada’s forthright opinions (and the picture she painted of a certain corset–no spoilers), Alison wondering why she stepped out of her niche–it was simply wonderful.
Like Miss Penny, I do wonder why it is the Miss Plums of the world–the vapid, helpless little creatures (or the total #itch-women) who get the men following them like they were the Pied Piper. What’s the attraction? Why is a woman who can take care of herself so unattractive to men? Why are such women always called “threatening.” Why do men feel such women do not “need” them? Age old dilemma.
We reach an age–don’t we? An age at which dating is absurd. Except relationships are essential. Life is routine and routine is comforting–until it is stifling. We need the Miss Plums to happen, we need the Ronnies around for the holiday. We need our trees shaken for our own good. This book does that beautifully.
October 30, 2015
Miss Alison Penny lives a comfortable life in her cottage in an English village with her old servant Ada. Her only regret, perhaps, is not having married George twenty years earlier, but overall she is pretty pleased with her life. Then she impulsively rescues a young woman who seems to be determined to drown herself, and takes her home. Miss Victoria Plum is a drippy, helpless, inefficient creature who soon gets on Alison and Ada's nerves. But her apparent devotion and helplessness and pathetic gratitude impress Alison's two friends, Hubert (widowed vicar with a rebellious teenage son) and Stanley (fussy old bachelor). However, even they soon tire of Victoria's ineffectual clinging.
The applecart is further upset by the arrival of George, Alison's old love, who has coarsened into a hard-drinking, skirt-chasing vulgarian. An encounter between George, Victoria Plum and a whiskey bottle has to end in disaster... or perhaps a blessing in disguise?
I enjoyed this book from the mid-to-late 1950s because of the characters and the depiction of village life. Alison, at 40 years old, is both youthful and middle-aged. There is romance in her, but also a sense of the comforts of home. Hubert, a tormented soul, is like every ineffectual and awkward parent of a dismissive teenager. Victoria Plum sets your teeth on edge, and you can totally understand how Alison, in the end, is willing to endure almost any sacrifice in order to get rid of her.
I was also amused by some very typical features of 1950s life, such as the almost reverend ceremony of watching TV.
I would recommend this book strongly to people who enjoy Barbara Pym or D.E. Stevenson
The applecart is further upset by the arrival of George, Alison's old love, who has coarsened into a hard-drinking, skirt-chasing vulgarian. An encounter between George, Victoria Plum and a whiskey bottle has to end in disaster... or perhaps a blessing in disguise?
I enjoyed this book from the mid-to-late 1950s because of the characters and the depiction of village life. Alison, at 40 years old, is both youthful and middle-aged. There is romance in her, but also a sense of the comforts of home. Hubert, a tormented soul, is like every ineffectual and awkward parent of a dismissive teenager. Victoria Plum sets your teeth on edge, and you can totally understand how Alison, in the end, is willing to endure almost any sacrifice in order to get rid of her.
I was also amused by some very typical features of 1950s life, such as the almost reverend ceremony of watching TV.
I would recommend this book strongly to people who enjoy Barbara Pym or D.E. Stevenson
June 18, 2021
This could have been titled "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" or "Adventures in Helping a Professional Victim". Miss Penny has a good, well run life when she saves a stranger, Miss Plum, from an apparent suicide attempt. What she doesn't know is that Miss Plum is a professional victim who's never fixed a problem in her life unless by crying and fleeting from one kind-hearted helper to another, and now Miss Penny is saddled with this creature in her house and can't get rid of her. As someone who's met a couple of Miss Plums in real life, I am convinced that the author wrote this book in response to her own real life experiences. A fun read that reminded me of the Mapp and Lucia novels - not much happens but the focus is on relationships within a small village.
December 3, 2021
Middlebrow fiction about a contented forty-year-old spinster living in an idyllic English village in the late 1950s is exactly my kind of book. A book that seems to be not much about anything but in fact has a lot going on beneath the surface. If the reader does not pay attention, much may be missed. This may turn into one of those reads that stays with the reader, and becomes even more powerful, with each additional reading at different stages of one's life.
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