Eric Hatch (1901–1973)

Irene is on a savanger hunt with her fellow Bright Young Society Things; one of the items on her list is a "Lost Man," of the sort who live in boxes under bridges in the Depression era. Irene decides to take her acquisition, Godfrey, home with her to install him as her family's butler. The rest is a domestic comedy as Godfrey -- who unbeknownst to anyone was once as rich as they are -- expertly wrangles their rowdy homelife and fends off the advances of Irene, who's fallen madly in love with show more him. Funny, ironic, wry -- I love this book. If my elderly paperback weren't in such fragile shape, I'd read it more often. (I realize there's was film version, but I've never seen it.) show less

This was like an awkward combination of [a:Edward Streeter|448083|Edward Streeter|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-3fbaf32fc1fc48e6ffaf3f63a026f0ff.png] and Don Draper, without the endearing humor of the former and the realistic cynicism of the latter. I did enjoy the mid-century ad agency plot, though!

I read this many years ago, as a horse-mad teenager. Never knew the name of the book, as it had been lent to me by a friend of my father's. Now that I have grown, I am wondering exactly who lent me the book, as my father worked for Union Bank in Beverly Hills at the time this book was being promoted as a movie script.

At any rate, I found the book most amusing when I was a teenager, and I still love it now. 30 years after my first reading, I am still a horse-mad teenager inside!

I'm not really sure if I liked this or understood it. It was quite odd in ways that I didn't really get.