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Belinda - An April Folly in Three Acts
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.
87 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1918
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About the author
A.A. Milne
1,836 books3,678 followersAlan Alexander Milne (pronounced /ˈmɪln/) was an English author, best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh and for various children's poems.
A. A. Milne was born in Kilburn, London, to parents Vince Milne and Sarah Marie Milne (née Heginbotham) and grew up at Henley House School, 6/7 Mortimer Road (now Crescent), Kilburn, a small public school run by his father. One of his teachers was H. G. Wells who taught there in 1889–90. Milne attended Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied on a mathematics scholarship. While there, he edited and wrote for Granta, a student magazine. He collaborated with his brother Kenneth and their articles appeared over the initials AKM. Milne's work came to the attention of the leading British humour magazine Punch, where Milne was to become a contributor and later an assistant editor.
Milne joined the British Army in World War I and served as an officer in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment and later, after a debilitating illness, the Royal Corps of Signals. He was discharged on February 14, 1919.
After the war, he wrote a denunciation of war titled Peace with Honour (1934), which he retracted somewhat with 1940's War with Honour. During World War II, Milne was one of the most prominent critics of English writer P. G. Wodehouse, who was captured at his country home in France by the Nazis and imprisoned for a year. Wodehouse made radio broadcasts about his internment, which were broadcast from Berlin. Although the light-hearted broadcasts made fun of the Germans, Milne accused Wodehouse of committing an act of near treason by cooperating with his country's enemy. Wodehouse got some revenge on his former friend by creating fatuous parodies of the Christopher Robin poems in some of his later stories, and claiming that Milne "was probably jealous of all other writers.... But I loved his stuff."
He married Dorothy "Daphne" de Sélincourt in 1913, and their only son, Christopher Robin Milne, was born in 1920. In 1925, A. A. Milne bought a country home, Cotchford Farm, in Hartfield, East Sussex. During World War II, A. A. Milne was Captain of the Home Guard in Hartfield & Forest Row, insisting on being plain 'Mr. Milne' to the members of his platoon. He retired to the farm after a stroke and brain surgery in 1952 left him an invalid and by August 1953 "he seemed very old and disenchanted".
He was 74 years old when he passed away in 1956.
A. A. Milne was born in Kilburn, London, to parents Vince Milne and Sarah Marie Milne (née Heginbotham) and grew up at Henley House School, 6/7 Mortimer Road (now Crescent), Kilburn, a small public school run by his father. One of his teachers was H. G. Wells who taught there in 1889–90. Milne attended Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied on a mathematics scholarship. While there, he edited and wrote for Granta, a student magazine. He collaborated with his brother Kenneth and their articles appeared over the initials AKM. Milne's work came to the attention of the leading British humour magazine Punch, where Milne was to become a contributor and later an assistant editor.
Milne joined the British Army in World War I and served as an officer in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment and later, after a debilitating illness, the Royal Corps of Signals. He was discharged on February 14, 1919.
After the war, he wrote a denunciation of war titled Peace with Honour (1934), which he retracted somewhat with 1940's War with Honour. During World War II, Milne was one of the most prominent critics of English writer P. G. Wodehouse, who was captured at his country home in France by the Nazis and imprisoned for a year. Wodehouse made radio broadcasts about his internment, which were broadcast from Berlin. Although the light-hearted broadcasts made fun of the Germans, Milne accused Wodehouse of committing an act of near treason by cooperating with his country's enemy. Wodehouse got some revenge on his former friend by creating fatuous parodies of the Christopher Robin poems in some of his later stories, and claiming that Milne "was probably jealous of all other writers.... But I loved his stuff."
He married Dorothy "Daphne" de Sélincourt in 1913, and their only son, Christopher Robin Milne, was born in 1920. In 1925, A. A. Milne bought a country home, Cotchford Farm, in Hartfield, East Sussex. During World War II, A. A. Milne was Captain of the Home Guard in Hartfield & Forest Row, insisting on being plain 'Mr. Milne' to the members of his platoon. He retired to the farm after a stroke and brain surgery in 1952 left him an invalid and by August 1953 "he seemed very old and disenchanted".
He was 74 years old when he passed away in 1956.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 14, 2025
The free LibriVox audiobook of this farce by the author of the Winnie-the-Pooh books was a fun way to pass some time at the gym. Belinda, whose husband left her 18 years earlier, juggles suitors, the return of her recently college-graduated daughter from Paris, and the return of the not-immediately recognized husband.
June 6, 2016
For a minute there, I almost taught the same two plays for my summer school class as I did four years ago. Sometimes, I am a bit too restless for my own good. But the minute I decided I needed a new play in the mix, I immediately had to work through my limits. It had to be entertaining (we’re talking summer school students here) and free (in the public domain). That actually narrows the field more than you’d think--perhaps too much. I toyed with several options that were interesting only to me before I finally remembered having found a play by A.A. Milne a while ago. I’d never got around to reading it, so I figured this was as good a time as any. I fired through it and was delighted by my find.
Belinda takes charge immediately as a strong female character capably handling multiple suitors in a zippy, beguiling, though (mostly) harmless manner. The plot complications are fun, but do not add too much of a strain on the characters or the audience. The characters are funny and entertaining, though not too exaggerated so as to lose credibility. Everything gets neatly wrapped up in a clever finale. Perhaps my only qualm is that one of the characters is perhaps too trivially dealt with by the female protagonist in a way that puts her beyond a sense of decency. Milne tries to balance this by having the character suddenly degraded into a silly, nonsense character undeserving of our pity. Yet he got my pity all the same, and the bewitching Belinda is barely besmirched in the process. I mean, it’s meant to be a comedy, and it is comedic. It’s meant to be fun, and it is. It’s not meant to be deep and thematically powerful, and it’s not. It’s meant to be the next play that my summer school students read? They could definitely do worse!
Belinda takes charge immediately as a strong female character capably handling multiple suitors in a zippy, beguiling, though (mostly) harmless manner. The plot complications are fun, but do not add too much of a strain on the characters or the audience. The characters are funny and entertaining, though not too exaggerated so as to lose credibility. Everything gets neatly wrapped up in a clever finale. Perhaps my only qualm is that one of the characters is perhaps too trivially dealt with by the female protagonist in a way that puts her beyond a sense of decency. Milne tries to balance this by having the character suddenly degraded into a silly, nonsense character undeserving of our pity. Yet he got my pity all the same, and the bewitching Belinda is barely besmirched in the process. I mean, it’s meant to be a comedy, and it is comedic. It’s meant to be fun, and it is. It’s not meant to be deep and thematically powerful, and it’s not. It’s meant to be the next play that my summer school students read? They could definitely do worse!
June 9, 2017
This three act play is a very quick and humorous read. The plot involves mistaken identities and a love triangle.
January 25, 2012
This was pretty funny, once you got past the stage directions. I really cannot believe AA milne wrote a play that was so over played! Belinda was funny, Delia was understanding, not as unromantic as she claimed and forgiving. Tremayne was kinda intimidating, but in a way where he might not actually attack. Delish and Baxter were really the best characters in the story! Definatly commic relief! Over all not bad, but not even close to great!
April 10, 2020
A big disappointment after the brilliance of The Boy Comes Home, which was in our college syllabus. Guess I will be postponing A. A. Milne plays for a while.
September 13, 2021
Highly entertaining fluff play from the creator of Winnie the Pooh. You just shake your head and laugh. :)
June 1, 2013
Belinda is an early play by A. A. Milne. A light and escapist comedy, Milne himself called it "a purely artificial comedy whose only purpose was to amuse". It opened at the New Theatre in London on 8 April 1918, with Irene Vanbrugh playing the title role of Belinda.
January 16, 2018
Pretty light and frothy... wish it was more compelling.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews