Miss Buncle's Book (original 1934; edition 2008)

This book is extremely meta, but in the best of ways.

It's a book about a woman who writes a book about herself writing books. Catch that?

Miss Barbara Buncle, a fortysomething spinster who lives off her dividends, must come up with a financial plan once those dividends begin to run thin. A single woman in rural England, she has few notable talents aside from being patently unfashionable and slightly socially awkward. To raise money, she sees two options: raise chickens or write a book. Since she loathes chickens, she opts for the latter, and she writes about the only thing she knows: her neighbors.

Because she has "no creativity," Miss Buncle presents her thinly-veiled depiction of in Silverstream (the town is Goldstream in her book) to a publisher, who launches it to the world at large. The public, assuming that it's satire, lauds the books to the point that Silverstream picks up on the bestseller and is out for blood, searching for the true identity of the author John Smith.

Halfway through her novel-within-a-novel, Miss Buncle introduces a Golden Boy, a fae-like flutist, who dances through the town and changes everything. Correspondingly, she begins to pair off neighbors, punish the deserving, and send the town lesbians (ok, it's never stated, but that's what I gathered) off on an exotic desert vacation. And, like the internal novel, about halfway through, everything slowly begins to change, and it is hilarious.

This book was delightful. I don't much remember the day I spent reading it because I don't know that I did much else. I couldn't put it down. I just wanted to see what trouble Miss Buncle was going to get into next. I loved her neighbors. I loved her maid. I loved her publisher. And most of all, I loved her Golden Boy of a book and wish someone would write one around here to shake things up a bit. ( )

Written in the 1930’s when neighborhood gossip was the social media, Miss Buncle’s Book tells the story of the village of Silverstream after spinster Barbara Buncle writes a novel about the town and its residents. Though, she uses a pen name and different names for the village and its residents, her neighbors are able to see themselves in her work, and for the most part they don’t like what they see. This is a witty, old-fashioned story about human nature.

Reviews of this book described it as “cozy” so I was hoping for something in the vein of Alexander McCall Smith or Miss Read. It wasn’t cozy in that way – it didn’t make me want to stop and smell flowers or enjoy a sunset the way their works do, but Miss Buncle’s Book was a good story told simply. I enjoyed reading about the clothing and manners of the time, though am glad I don’t live in a village like Silverstream where my every action is a source of gossip and judgment. I am glad I met Miss Buncle and do plan to read this story’s sequel. Recommended for fans of Jane Austen and Persophone Classics. ( )

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this review, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)

When I first signed up for a review copy of this book, I had been under the mistaken impression that it was a contemporary novel about the old-fashioned foibles of British small-town life, ala Posy Simmonds' delightful Tamara Drewe from just a few years ago; it was only after receiving it that I realized it's actually a reprint of a book written way back in 1934, by one of those authors who were enormously popular in their day but quickly became obscure after their death. So as such, this already only mediocre book then leaves a lot more to be desired when viewed through modern eyes; and while I'm an avowed fan of other gentle British humorists from this time period (P.G. Wodehouse is a good example), Stevenson was no P.G. Wodehouse, and this so-so meta tale (about a dowdy woman who brings infamy to her small town by writing a tell-all novel that becomes a national bestseller) unfortunately reads at points more like a Simpsons parody of pre-war British comedies than a sincere pre-war British comedy. Checking out other people's reviews of this at Goodreads.com, I noticed that the word "cozy" kept coming up over and over in fans' write-ups, which I suppose is as good a way as any to describe this book in a nutshell -- an ultimately empty piece of fluff that even its fans admit they love more for the easy comfort of nostalgia than for its actual quality. It should be kept in mind when deciding whether or not to read it yourself.

Out of 10: 7.4 ( )

Here is what I wrote in March 2011 in my Goodreads review of D.E. Stevenson's re-issued book, Mrs. Tim of the Regiment, "There are no vampires, no faeries, no weird creatures, just a sweet story about real people living in a world I've always dreamed of. Love it, love it, love it. "

Imagine my surprise when I looked at the back cover of my new copy of the re-issued Miss Buncle's Book where in big, red, curvy letters it says, "Love it, love it, love it", and then under those big, red, curvy letters it says, "There are no vampires, no faeries, no weird creatures, just a sweet story about real people living in a world I've always dreamed of. Love it, love it, love it." It is marked as Reader Review. Could they possibly have used my very own words about Mrs. Tim for Miss Buncle?! Weird coincidence, or am I the reader in "Reader Review"? Couldn't they at least have used my name? That would have been uber-cool. But they can use my quote for any D.E. Stevenson novel they want to- I love them all! ( )

Miss Buncle, now on reduced means, writes a book about the village she lives in. It gets published under the nom du plume "John Smith", and to her surprise is a publishing sensation, turning her fortunes around.

However, not all of the villagers are happy. Miss Buncle has portrayed them as they are, and some take offence, particularly those who are not portrayed in a particularly bad light. ("It's not me, I'm not like that, but it's clearly me and I declare it libel!").

Months are then spent trying to find out who John Smith is and when incorrectly identified, the woman is persecuted, snubbed and her children kidnapped. Meanwhile other more positive outcomes occur as a result of the book - the Colonel and his next door neighbour get married, and the vicar escapes the clutches of a gold digger who thinks he has more money than he does.

And Barbara Buncle gets more than she ever imagined.....

A book within a book, within a book, it is a lovely afternoon read, well worth the republish by Persephone. ( )