Young Mrs. Savage

by D.E. Stevenson

Sometimes she wished she could stick up a large notice "FOUR CHILDREN ARE NOT TOO MANY" . . .

Raising four young children on her own in the years of postwar rationing, widowed Dinah tends to be the subject of sympathetic murmurs. But though she has little money, is perpetually tired, and remains haunted by unresolved issues from her troubled marriage, Dinah rejects all offers of pity. When her twin brother Dan returns from the military, he sends her and the children on holiday among the scenes of their childhood, staying with their unflappable Nannie at Craigie Lodge, their old family home, in a beautiful coastal town in Scotland. There, amidst happy memories, old friends, and new acquaintances, Dinah and her brood weather delightful adventures, awkward misunderstandings, and, perhaps, the tentative beginnings of new romance.

First published in 1949, Young Mrs. Savage is a charming holiday story, a perceptive tale of overcoming past unhappiness to make a fresh start, and one of D.E. Stevenson's most irresistible novels. This new edition includes an autobiographical sketch by the author.

"Miss Stevenson has her own individual and charming way of seeing things." Western Mail

Genres: Fiction, Romance, British Literature, Scotland, Audiobook, Historical Fiction, Cozy

264 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1948

About the author

There is more than one author with this name

Dorothy Emily Stevenson was a best-selling Scottish author. She published more than 40 romantic novels over a period of more than 40 years. Her father was a cousin of Robert Louis Stevenson.

D.E. Stevenson had an enormously successful writing career: between 1923 and 1970, four million copies of her books were sold in Britain and three million in the States. Like E.F. Benson, Ann Bridge, O. Douglas or Dorothy L. Sayers (to name but a few) her books are funny, intensely readable, engaging and dependable.

Reviews

[Julie Durnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gentle sweet Stevenson book read at the right time! So enjoyed my stay with Mrs. Savage and her dear children at the Scottish seaside, being pampered by her old Nannie!

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

Light-hearted and enjoyable Young Mrs Savage (1948) by D. E. Stevenson is a post-war story, of family, of relationships and bonds and things that may test or tug at them, one of new beginnings and of recovery and rejuvenation.

Twenty-eight-year-old Dinah Savage is the Mrs Savage of the title and we meet her living in Neetleham with her four children, Polly the eldest, twins Mark and Nigel, and the youngest Margy. Her only friends are her neighbours Irene and Henry Barnard but she manages alright, though money is tight. Married at only 19 to the devastatingly handsome and charming Gilbert Savage, who is mostly away at sea, Dinah realises even now, some time after his death, that their marriage was not quite what marriages are meant to be, something which has left its scars. What has been a very busy (and tiring) but monotonous existence however changes when Dinah’s twin Dan retires from the navy and returns to civilian life. Not only does this bring new life into their home, Dan almost immediately arranges for Dinah and the children to go to Seatown, the place he and Dinah grew up in to spend a month in their childhood home, now run as a boarding house by their old Nannie, Mrs Anderson.

Revisiting old memories and haunts, and having so many of her daily cares taken away by Nannie, Dinah begins to relax and recover. Soon she and the children are exploring the place and making some new friends, while being able to talk to Dan with whom she shares a deep bond means she also starts unburdening her mind of the troubles of her marriage she has been carrying with her. What starts as a holiday and change from daily life leads to more lasting changes as more than one new beginning is made, with some surprises along the way.

While Young Mrs Savage is largely a light and charming holiday story and one of fresh starts and even romance, some more serious themes also run in the background from marriage troubles to parenting dilemmas, family dynamics and even the impact of war-time injuries and trauma (the latter on another character). Dinah does a good job by her children but finds herself constantly evaluating her approach, in view of the very different characters of her children and in contrast with her experiences of her and Dan’s childhood and the very different relationship they shared with each other and their widower father. There are many ethical questions she has to face, but these one realises aren’t simply a result of her age, for anyone in her place would likely face much the same. Alongside, she must make peace with the marriage troubles she faced, especially the fact that she didn’t handle things as she had expected or as was usual for her nature.

But these threads mostly run in the background while on the surface is the holiday itself, immediately relieving Dinah of her daily chores and giving her time to rest, while she and the children explore the beaches and also her and Dan’s old haunts as she also recalls their own adventures and escapades. Some of these are much like children’s adventure stories, one episode especially reminding me of the One End Street children. Alongside is the romance or chances at romance that Dinah finds, which play out somewhat typically complete with misunderstanding and its resolution. There is also one other family-linked surprise in the mix, which I saw coming some way in, though it was revealed only at the end, but a nice touch all the same.

We also have some descriptions of place, and of Dinah and Dan’s childhood home and furniture. There are some animals here including Mark’s rabbits who barely make an appearance, and a very fat silky-eared spaniel named Trot who has multiple meals, again only briefly met. And as a holiday book, there are jaunts and explorations, teas and visits, even a shopping trip, and memorably a visit to Tantillion Castle where the children try to look for places from Dinah’s telling of the story of Marmion.

This was a lovely and pleasant read from D. E. Stevenson and I’m glad I have plenty more of her books left to explore.

[Duckpondwithoutducks · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with all of D. E. Stevenson's books, this is a gentle old-fashioned love story. There are similarities between this book and her later novel, Katherine Wentworth - a widow with children with not a lot of money meets a possible love interest in a difficult family situation that he doesn't know how to get out of. But this one has kind of a surprise twist near the end, that I am sure some people may have seen coming, but I didn't. 😀 One unfortunate thing is the use of a couple of phrases that are now considered extremely offensive. In any subsequent editions, hopefully they can just edit those out. An interesting thing about the book was that it dealt, more than her other books, with the psychology of the characters - the depression of the young mother trying to make ends meet in post-wartime Britain, her struggles in parenting and if she is training her children properly morally, and the question of whether a child with a difficult nature can change.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another enjoyable book by DE Stevenson. Lots of fun looking on Google Earth visiting the area.

[Hope · Rating 4 out of 5]

My eighteenth book by D.E. Stevenson and one of my new favorites.

[Bookworman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice, cozy story. Very enjoyable.

[Gina House · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5🌟 A super cozy and lovely D.E. Stevenson!

There's so much to love about this story—a young widow, five interesting children, a loyal and fun brother, Scotland, a light romance and lots of nasty or nice neighbors. I was in heaven reading this book!

I also adored the ending and it really left me wanting to know more about this family. To me, that's the sign of a really good book.

This is not a DES that I hear much about and I'm very surprised it's not more popular. (One reason may be that a very offensive word is used three times in the novel, though I try to keep in mind that this is a book of its time.)

Besides this disappointing word selection, I really enjoyed this book and it's now one of my favorite cozy books to read. Highly recommended if you love D.E. Stevenson like I do!

[Carol Bakker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy D. E. Stevenson so much more when children are in the story. Her strong suit, she writes them realistically and sympathetically. DES is pro-kids.

Sometimes she wished she could stick up a large notice saying: "FOUR CHILDREN ARE NOT TOO MANY," so that people wouldn't pity her. It was hateful to be pitied.

Dinah Savage is widowed with four kids. I think it's unusual for a 1949 light novel to feature a single mom.

Dinah and her twin brother Dan (The Dees, their Nannie called them) have always had an endearing friendship. This is a blessing, because we discover that Dinah's deceased husband was not a good man. Dan decides to take Dinah and kids to their childhood home, where Nannie is happy to watch kids, wash clothes, fix food, free up Dinah to take walks. As I read this, I thought that every single mom needs a Nannie in her life.

I'm working on a hymnal project, and laughed aloud (since I had just read this hymn) when Dinah says, "Sometimes when the kids are all safely in bed I say to myself 'Peace, perfect peace, with loved ones far away.'"

This was a fun read, a fine read, and a fond read.

[Alisha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really that bad, I just got impatient with the main character toward the end. She suddenly randomly decided to believe somebody she had never before trusted, without even verifying the information. Also I didn't like the implications, present in other D.E. Stevenson books as well, that a kid with undesirable personality traits can't change. Her version of good and bad kids and adults can sometimes be a little too exaggerated.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another gentle, peaceful novel by one of my favorite authors. The story itself is probably 3 stars for me. An extra star for the audiobook narrated by Hilary Neville, which was wonderful. It made an excellent bedtime listen.

My only real complaint (which can be applied to many of the author's books), is that the ending felt very abrupt. A sequel, or at the very least an epilogue, would have made for a far more satisfying ending.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-read as audiobook.

[Mom · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book mostly for its description of the seaside town the Savage familly visits. The romance and relationships between the main characters were a bit lame in my opinion. Not one of my favorite D.E. Stevenson's.

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Karen (Living Unabridged) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this one more than I did. As a glimpse of post war Scotland, it was fantastic. And I enjoyed the relationship between Dinah and her brother Dan (although all the talk of "The Dees" wore a little thin by the end). For the most part Stevenson writes children pretty well (neither too precocious nor too silly) but the way she wrote about at least one of the children in the this story wasn't my favorite.

The "love story" aspect to this particular title didn't work for me either. And Dinah, for being a sensible person behaved out of character especially toward the end.

[Jessica Perteet · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite DE Stevenson novel. I really relate to the main character as a mom of multiple children who takes a trip to the seaside in postwar England. Such a precious ending! I also have a beautiful first edition hardcover that I got at the library book sale.

[Teaspoon Stories · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed DE Stevenson’s “Miss Buncle” so much that a few months ago I looked around for another of her novels and decided to follow a recommendation by her publisher on the back cover of the book.

I suppose it’s generally wise to be a bit sceptical of publishers promoting their own wares. But in this case, the blurb describing “Young Mrs Savage” - “charming and thoughtful” according to the Glasgow Herald - couldn’t have been more accurate.

The family at the centre of the novel comprises:

- the titular Dinah Savage, a 28-year old widow who’s coping bravely and winsomely in difficult circumstances. She’s been under great strain and emotionally adrift, and she badly needs a break.

- Her dashing but irresponsible husband, naval officer Gilbert Savage, recently killed in a flying accident. It’s his vanity, infidelity and sheer selfishness that Dinah finds herself increasingly remembering and coming to terms with.

- Her eight-year old daughter Polly who’s good at gymnastics, can’t bear to be separated from her bosom friend, Christine, and “to whom shyness was an unknown sensation” (p231).

- Her six-year old twins, Mark and Nigel. Mark takes after his mother, resourceful and reliable, and Nigel is charming and vain like his father.

- Her baby Margy, born after her husband’s death - “fat, comfortable and undemanding, taking life as she found it” (p64).

- Her twin brother, (Commander) Dan Bell, who’s been away at sea for seven years. He’s “young and fit” and attracts all the attention when he’s diving at the pool (p93). He’s also thoughtful and sensitive, curious to find out about his sister’s private life and about the ways of her rumbustious children.

- Annie Anderson, the kind and no-nonsense nannie-housekeeper who brought up Dinah & Dan (the two “Dees”) after their mother died in childbirth. Nannie still lives in Craigie Lodge, the “dear old rambling house close to the sea” (p10) in Seatown (North Berwick on the East Lothian coast) which was left to her by Dinah & Dan’s father, Dr Bell.

Other characters in the novel include:

- Irene Bernard, Dinah’s next door neighbour and close friend ever since they both settled as newly weds in fictional Nettleham in Kent (p103) in the late 1930s. Irene’s generous, forthright and “always full of optimism” (p31).

- Irene’s husband, Henry, a stolid stockbroker who manages Dinah’s business affairs.

- The friendly old gent at Seatown with “grizzled beard and twinkling eyes” who the children call Mr Monk (after the fictitious seafarer in Dan’s quixotic stories); and Mr Monk’s gossipy invalid wife.

- Mr Monk’s nephew, Pat Yoker (nicknamed Tapioca) who served overseas with Dan and now leads rather a rackety life drinking and playing golf. He launches a half-hearted affair with Dinah which he gives up when he discovers that - weirdly - he’s her dead husband’s cousin.

- The two Misses Stevens, Jean and Clara, who live in their snug seafront cottage with their Dresden China, lots of happy memories and their portly spaniel Trot.

- Malcolm Armstrong, kind of the local squire and big businessman, who Dinah & Dan used to hero-worship as children - now insecure, melancholic and lonely with his war injuries. He rather feebly pursues a love affair with Dinah which surprisingly (and I think rather unconvincingly) succeeds.

- Clarke, Malcolm Armstrong’s strong, silent and unswervingly loyal chauffeur/butler/carer. Perhaps he’s also Malcolm’s special chum, given that Dan describes Malcolm as “the sort that doesn’t know women exist. He isn’t the marrying type” (p220).


DE Stevenson covers some intriguing themes in this novel, mostly family-related issues such as:

- Absent husbands, or dead ones, as a result of six years of war, leaving fatherless families and young widows managing alone.

- Repressing the trauma of war on the home-front - the Blitz, menfolk fighting overseas, terror of invasion: “Nobody who came through that can ever be quite the same,” muses Irene (p13).

- The daily struggle with post-war rationing and shortages: “Quota was one of those new words, one of those words which excused every shortage. If you wanted shoes, or dish cloths, or bowls, or biscuits, you couldn’t get them because of this mysterious quota. You just had to do without” (p53).

- The guilt and worries of parenting - for example, Dinah’s fretting whether the way Irene brings up her only child Christine - “as friends, talking to one another constantly, almost as equals, sharing the same amusements” - is better parenting than her own more hands-off approach where four children have meant she “would not have had time to be friends with each of them separately” (p114).

- Loving your children but realising deep-down that you might not actually like them much, especially as you start recognising in them the less attractive characteristics of older family members (“Nigel was the stormy petrel of the family. She had tried all sorts of different ways of managing him but none of them worked” p160).

- Parents envying the freedoms of a child-less life - for example, when Dinah thinks longingly of the lost luxury of “belonging to herself alone and complete in herself, looking towards a future full of rosy hopes and dreams: romance, travel, adventure” (p141).

- Secrets and lies bubbling under the surface in most families: like the tensions between Malcolm Armstrong and his scheming step-family; and the rift between duplicitous Gilbert Savage and his parents (who turn out to be none other than the amiable so-called Mr and Mrs Monk).


Period details that particularly struck me reading the novel included:

- So much is still on ration after the war, which is why Dinah’s especially grateful for the jumper Irene has hand-knitted for her using up her precious ration coupons (p9).

- Sales assistants in the china shop in Nettleham are more interested in “discussing Greta Garbo’s hair-do” (p53) than helping customers.

- Travelling by steam train may sound like an adventure but long train journeys left passengers tired, stressed and dirty, with “black faces and hands” (p57).

- Dinah phones her GP direct when she’s worried her son Mark has mumps (p54). If getting through to a doctor straightaway sounds amazing, then how about this: her GP, Dr Godden (she’s actually known him for years) is then round at her house within half an hour to see the patient in person. We can’t even begin to imagine that level of service with our current NHS!


Some sentences I especially enjoyed in the novel included:

- “Everything important happens in the middle of the night - things like babies coming, and Santa Claus” (p17).

- “Mark assured me that a baby tiger would cause no trouble in the house, he would keep it in a rabbit hutch and look after it most carefully” (p18) - with DE Stevenson’s idiosyncratic use of a comma where a semi-colon might be more usual.

- “Sharing is no good unless you do it willingly. That’s why communism doesn’t work. True communism is sharing gladly what you’ve got with your neighbour. It isn’t taking his possessions, it’s giving yours” (p68).

- “It was such a jump, from atheists to Flower Shows, that Dinah was slightly bewildered” (p117).


And lastly, some things that made me laugh out loud:

- Dan’s increasingly colourful seafaring stories, including his made-up tale of ship’s carpenter Mr Monk with his lively parrot, Methuselah (“Dan began to think he had mistaken his vocation in life. Perhaps he was a sort of Somerset Maugham and had never known it!” p44).

- Mark prosaically reciting the poem he had to learn off by heart at school - 17th century Edmund Waller’s elegiac “Go, Lovely Rose” - as a breathless, incomprehensible gabble, making Dan’s “diaphragm tremble with internal laughter” (p45).

- Dinah worrying that “people who talked about their children and told anecdotes about their cute remarks were terrible bores” (p98).

- And finally … I couldn’t help wondering whether Dinah’s surname was specifically chosen just so that her children would then become “the little Savages” …

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book!

Poor Dinah... she is left to raise four children on her own. Dinah's husband, Gilbert had made it all through the war only to be killed in a tragic accident. Dinah is left not only responsible for her young children, but with unhappy memories as their last parting revealed that her husband did not have the loyalty toward his growing family that she hoped he would have.

Dinah is tired out but her brother Dan comes to the rescue with a month-long vacation he provides for the young family back in their childhood home in Scotland.

"You've got a plan?"

"Yes, rather a marvellous plan - at least, I think it's marvellous. The plan is for you to bring the children to Seatown for the whole of August."

"You must be mad!" exclaimed Dinah, in amazement.

"Why? Nannie would love to have you at Craigie Lodge. It would be a rest for you, wouldn't it? I could easily run down and spend week-ends with you."

Returning to the place she grew up, meeting old friends and neighbors, getting rest and relaxation by the sea, all do the trick for Dinah. Dinah soon meets an old acquaintance and tries to cope with his sour and crochety relatives. She makes friends with another older couple who invite the family to tea, and in the process, Dinah will discover some answers to questions that have been hidden for years.

I really admired Dinah's character as she seems to escape bitterness and her primary character trait seems to be kindness.

"How unhappy she must be!"
"Unhappy?" asked Malcolm in surprise.
"Only a terribly unhappy person would want to make trouble," said Dinah with conviction. "It's when people are utterly and completely miserable that they want to hurt other people and make them unhappy too."
"How do you know? he asked.
"Because of the children. If they're happy they're good," said Dinah simply."

The mystery that is uncovered for Dinah will, at first, give her quite a shock, but ends up being a good thing for the entire family.

Another gentle read, this novel was also not only entertaining but full of D.E. Stevenson's usual insights into character and motivations. There are descriptions of the various characters in the book and the contrast of the "dour Scots" nature with their tongue-in-cheek humor. And the reader will enjoy reading some of Scotland's history as Dinah's children are educated with the story of Marmion and visit Tantallon Castle. The slow pace of Dinah's life in this little town and her adventures as she makes her way through the aftermath of grief, all make for a pleasant and relaxing reading experience.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a bit of a different DES I think. The main character is Dinah Savage, a widowed mother with four young children. At the beginning of the novel, she is struggling to make ends meet and to manage all the cares of her bustling household in the post-war years with rationing, etc. She is also dealing with some unpleasant revelations about her dead husband. In to all comes comes her twin brother Dan for a visit. He was a sailor during the war and so hasn’t seen his beloved twin in years or met her children. I love Dan! He’s such a fun uncle and a caring, kind-hearted brother. I love that Dan and Dinah are called the Dees. We get lots of time with the Dees in the novel’s present day and bits and pieces of their memories from their growing up years.

Dan sets in motion much of the plot, especially when he pays for Dinah and her children to spend a month with their old Nannie in their hometown on the coast near Edinburgh. Nannie lives in the house the Dees grew up in and so it’s a real homecoming for Dinah. She gets to introduce her children to all the delights she loved as a child and meets old friends in the town. Dinah and her children also befriend an older couple whose nephew knows Dan from the navy. So there is a lot to keep the Savage family hopping on this holiday! There is even some romance for Dinah… It was pretty obvious but it’s my favorite kind of romance so I enjoyed it very much.

There is another plot twist regarding Dinah’s husband that I guessed correctly but still very much enjoyed seeing how it played out in the story. I think Dinah herself does a lot of maturing, and I love how much she loves being a mother. She seems to have a good head on her shoulders with her children, even when she is struggling on by herself at first without the help of a Dan or Nannie.

I do think the Dees are my favorite part of the story. This one is a little slower in its pace. It actually felt a little more like an O. Douglas novel than the typical DES so it took a bit longer to read, but there’s the reward of DES’s delightful characterization.

[Classic reverie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am never disappointed in D. E. Stevenson and I actually love her novels, "Young Mrs. Savage". I loved to her about the "Dees" and especially when Dinah's children wanted to know all about the twins' past. Dinah and Dan's return to their Scottish hometown and remembering the past and enjoying the future of things to come.

Story in short- Dinah finds life rewarding but difficult, having her twin brother return home and helping makes things almost perfect. The children have their own personalities which makes this a family-friendly story with a subtle romantic bend.


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She hardly knew whether to be glad or sorry that Polly had such a poor opinion of fathers. In one way it was quite horrifying, of course; but in another way it was comforting since it showed that Polly felt no lack of paternal influence in her own life. Polly was the only one who had any recollection of her
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father. The twins were too young to remember him, and Margy had never seen him for he had been killed before she was born: killed, not in the war (which, somehow, would have seemed less tragic and unnecessary) but in a flying accident when the war was over and Dinah had ceased to live in constant apprehension of his death.
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“What has become of Nannie?” Irene asked, for she and Henry’ often worried about the friendlessness of Dinah. She seemed so completely on her own with no relations except her sailor brother. Dinah was attractive—and sociable by nature—but she was far too busy to cultivate
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friends in Nettleham. Irene and Henry Barnard were her only real friends, and although they were devoted to her they felt a certain uneasy sense of responsibility on her behalf. “What has become of Nannie?” echoed Dinah. “Nothing, really. I mean she still lives at Seatown in the old house.

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For instance, what had Dinah done with herself in Glasgow living with the aunt who didn’t want her? How unutterably dreary it must have been! No wonder Dinah had fallen rapidly and completely in love with Gilbert Savage, who looked like a
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Greek god and behaved like a Don Juan!
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“Has he got a job?” asked Irene, rising to go. “Only a temporary one, I’m afraid. It’s in a shipping company at Leith.”

*** Dinah Savage is a widow with four young children; she is 28 and her twin brother Dan who had been in the Navy, is going to see her and settle down after being discharged from serving his time, it has been 8 years since they last saw each other. When they were 17; their doctor father died and Dinah went to live with an aunt who did not really want her. Dinah's mom died when the twins were born. Dinah married young and her husband was in the military and had died after the war ended in a plane accident. Dinah is a widow and her neighbors have known each other since the were newly wed brides. Irene and her husband look after the young widow.

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“You’re getting big,” said Dr. Bell, looking at them over the top of his spectacles. “You’re eight
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years old. Dan is too old for Miss Thomson’s school, so I’ve entered him for Mr. Ferguson’s. He will start there next term.” “And me, too?” said Dinah confidently. “It’s a boys’ school,” explained Dr. Bell, and left it at that. “You mean we shan’t be together!” cried the Dees in horror-stricken tones. “You can’t be together,” said Dr. Bell. “I’m sorry about it, but it’s impossible. Dinah can go on
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at Miss Thomson’s in the meantime, but Dan must go to a boys’ school. Boys and girls go to different schools—you know that, don’t you?
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“Do you ever hear from Gilbert’s parents?” asked Dan, at last. “Gilbert’s parents! No, of course not.” “It seems a pity.” “Dan!” cried Dinah. “You know quite well what happened. You


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know how they behaved. He went to Harrogate to see them and tell them about me—that we wanted to marry each other—and they were simply horrible to him about it. They ordered him out of the house. We never heard from them again. There was some other girl they wanted him to marry—you know all that!”
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Dan remembered. He remembered Aunt Teena’s arrival—the aunt from Glasgow whom they had never seen before—and how she had made everything a thousand times worse by trying to take control of everything and getting on the wrong side of Nannie and insisting that Di must go and live with her in Glasgow instead of staying on at Craigie Lodge with Nannie, which had
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been the obvious thing for Di to do. “I don’t know why Aunt Teena took you to Glasgow,” said Dan at last. “She did it to score off Nannie, of course—she was furious with Nannie about the will—but afterwards she was sorry, and all she wanted was to get rid of me. Oh, dear! It was a miserable time. I can hardly bear to think of it.”
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Dan smiled. “She can. I went down and saw her. It was odd seeing Nannie and the dear old house again. The people who were coming to her for August have cancelled their rooms. I took them for you.” “Dan!”

❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert


I thought Pat knew that Dinah and Dan were siblings, it was surprising that he had not known but the shock of it all was that The Monks were actually Dinah's dead husband, Gilbert's parents. I love how the relationship without knowing each other developed. Interesting the Nigel looked so much like his father, that it must have surprised his parents that they did not wonder. I was so hoping and I was glad that Dinah and Malcolm found out what each other felt. I especially loved when Mark and Polly went to the castle alone and had to take a milk trolley back home. Nigel and his father were so unbelievable self centered.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

D.E. Stevenson handled a story of infidelity and an unhappy marriage with great care.

Mrs. Savage tries to find contentment caring for her growing four children, despite unpleasant memories of a now dead, unfaithful husband. She finally takes a vacation to the seashore where she and her twin Dan used to live. Dan is stationed nearby and visits them when he can. Other vacationers are confused about Dan's relationship to the energetic children, thinking that he is their father.

She meets people she knew as a young girl and begins to form new relationships, especially with one man she used to idolize. When he played golf in school, the twins used to follow him around and "hold their thumbs" for him. He remembers the twins fondly, because they brought him luck. Perhaps they can bring him luck again.

[Cricket Muse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dinah, a widow at merely twenty-eight, is trying to cope with being a mother of four children. The responsibility and strain is wearing her down which is why the reappearance of her beloved twin brother Dan, finally released from war duties, is so delightful. Together "The Dees" pack up the kids and go for a month's seaside holiday to their old family home. Here they meet old friends and Dinah finds herself the center of attention of several suitors.
This light romance has much to it as it being a Stevenson she throws in a couple of red herrings and a surprising mysterious encounter with strangers.
One of her best, despite the predicable sour characters who threaten our heroine's happiness, the plot is full of unexpected delights such as child rearing techniques and a retold version of Marmion.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of this lovely author's better ones. D.E Stevenson excels in gentle stories of the everyday, and in this one, she portrays a young mother raising four children all of whom have distinct and realistic personalities. Wonderful book if you want a more old-fashioned romance to relax with on a cold winter day.

[MaryJo Dawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although D.E. Stevenson was a very successful and prolific British writer of the mid-20th century, this book is my introduction to her books.
Dinah Savage is widowed shortly after the second world war, left with 4 young children to raise.
This is a story about finding out the man she fell madly in love with and married at the age of 19 was not all she thought he was. It is about her close relationship with her twin brother, an admirable man who steps in to urge her on a needed holiday back to the area they were both raised in.
There, thanks to the assistance of brother Dan and her beloved former nanny, Dinah has time to really enjoy her children and consider their individual personalities. She has time to heal, to renew friendships and develop new ones.
A man she and Dan admired as a child is not so much older than they are, and upon their re-aquaintance Dinah begins to see Malcolm in an entirely new light, not as the handsome and self-assured hero, but a very vulnerable veteran with healing of his own to do.
Because this story is well written with well-developed and believable characters, I didn't get bored, but found it charming and interesting.
My one criticism as a common one for me; the author simplifies the need for explanations by too many of her characters being only children and conveniently free of very much family at all.
In the families of this time period and before, most people did have larger families, and this habit lessens the reality of the situations for me.

[Leticia · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the most part, another charming and easy to read DES book. It felt pleasantly different that it was about a single mother with slightly too many children. Even though DES keeps it light she doesn't ignore the complexities of the relationships; Dinah struggles with the practicalities of raising four children alone, with managing their different personalities, with giving them the individual care and attention she wants to. I enjoyed her relationship with her brother Dan a lot and the setting was a particularly good one.

The biggest negative is three instances of the n-word across two occasions (used in a colloquial way in casual conversation rather than an epithet directed at a specific person). I was reading a vintage copy from the 60s, so have hope these might have been excised from the more recent reprint as all they add is a nasty shock.

While we're talking about discordant notes from periods past, there was also a bit where Dan considered the attractiveness/future sex appeal of his baby niece that I am a hundred percent sure wasn't meant to be creepy and horrible, but did more highlight the gross emphasis unconsciously put on women's physical appearance (to this day, but particularly when this was written) than any raptures about a main character's beauty ever have.

[Anne Whiting · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed Young Mrs. Savage, so just realize that as you read further. In general, it's a wandering sort of book that seems to have very little plot. You'd read it because you like D.E. Stevenson's writing style and the characters. At first, it seemed like there was a lot of filler - mostly in the form of fictional stories that the adults tell the children - but these were actually woven into the storyline later, so it wasn't as bad as I first thought.

That all said, the romance at the end was badly botched IMO. The entire book is about the main character's obsession with her children and how their late father wasn't obsessed with them at all. So what happens? The main character goes and gets engaged to a guy who hasn't even met three of the four children, and he only met the one daughter briefly. I just can't imagine our heroine being that dense after her mistakes with her first husband. Perhaps the children don't matter anymore since the two boys will be sent off to boarding school in a couple of years?

Anyway, not D.E. Stevenson's best, but also a cozy read.

Child-friendliness: 5/10. Baby-making is mentioned a couple of times (in discreet terms). A few words of light swearing (nothing horrible).
Read-aloud rating: 7/10

[Diane Shearer · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2, I think, because there really is a lot to love here, but it has a similar twist ending to Rough and Winter Weather which I just finished and it doesn’t compare well. That book is beautiful, so well done it takes my breath away. If I hadn’t read the two back to back I might have enjoyed this one more. But it’s too sedate, too calm, too British. When the mystery is revealed (which I had seen coming for miles) the reaction was really disappointing. Nobody wants to “make a fuss” about a completely miraculous event! I couldn’t believe it! I wanted to jump and shout for joy and they can’t even talk to each other. And the ending, while very sweet and satisfying, is very abrupt even for DES, who delights in leaving you gasping for one more chapter. It’s well worth reading. The setting is wonderful. The “Dees” are such great characters. The difficulty of parenting small children is so beautifully done. I raised four myself, three served in the military, so I loved Dinah from page one and loved Dan for rescuing her. This book needs more Malcolm and more “fuss”.

[Dawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

D.E. Stevenson is one of my favorite authors. I have read many of her other books and found them to be delightful cozy stories in a British setting from the past. My favorites are those recently republished by Sourcebooks - especially "The Young Clementina"! If you've never read anything by Stevenson, "Miss Buncle's Book" is a great place to start! That being said, I'll have to admit to being highly disappointed in this book. The storyline didn't hold my interest at all! As I trudged along with uninteresting characters doing boring things at the seaside, I found myself not even caring how it ended, so without wasting any more time, I will move on to the next Stevenson title with high hopes that it will be a "winner"!

[Miriam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is probably my favorite of the Stevenson books that I've recently read, mainly because even though there are some definite fairy-tale elements to the way everything works out, the heroine and hero have complicated backstories. Mrs. Savage has to deal with the fact that her marriage was unhappy while still trying to give her children a happy childhood and learns that her dead husband was even worse than she thought. The hero has his own struggles, including physical impairment, which I don't remember as being very common in Stevenson books. It made the characters interesting, and as with all Stevenson novels, the children are interesting characters in their own right.

[Aimee Leonhard · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a rainy weekend and a little chilly so a perfect book for relaxing on the couch in front of the fire with a cup of coffee (or tea and maybe scones if you want to be authentic.) This is a gentle read with a quiet romance that takes place in post WWII Scotland. It was a contemporary novel at the time, published in 1948 and all that that implies for racism, feminism etc. Just beware, it's lovely and then a little startling. It doesn't hurt to be reminded of how far we have come and be able to enjoy a lovely holiday in Scotland by the sea.

[Sherry · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit disappointing. Widowed Dinah Savage has four children, Polly, 6 year old twins Mark and Nigel, and baby Marcy, and is worn to a nub trying to care for them and make ends meet. When her own twin brother, Dan Bell, retires from the Navy, and takes her back to the seashore house in which they’d grown up with their doctor father, now a boarding house run by their former Nanny Andreson, Dinah has a chance to rediscover life and meet people who will turn her life and those of her brother and children around.