Miss Buncle Married

Almost as funny as the first book in the series, Miss Buncle Married is the perfect book to read if you need to remember how kind and wonderful humans are capable of being. This book is guaranteed to lower your cortisol levels, with its stress-free, barely there plot. D.E. Stevenson really makes you forget her characters aren’t real. I loved reading about everyone in this book, with the highlight being the mischievous Marvell children and their dubious button collection!

The sequel to Miss Buncle's Book finds our heroine, now Barbara Abbott, married and looking for a new town to settle down and make a home in. This is still a pleasant read, but is much more meandering and unfocused than the first book, and parts of it feel more dated, too. (While the first book is hardly explicitly feminist, there were lots more hinky things about gender and physical appearance in this book. That, together with the weird voodoo fetish doll interlude and the fact that we keep being told how kindly Arthur is while he also more than once talks about how much fun it had been to kill "the Boche" in WWI, sat really uneasily for me alongside the more charming parts of the book.) Some amusing parts, and I'll keep an eye out for show more the third book in the series but I won't be hurrying to track it down either. show less

Six-word review: Weak tea following predecessor's hearty brew.

Extended review:

My expectations were set low for this sequel to a first book that has the feel of a standalone. My six-word encapsulation of Miss Buncle's Book says, "Perfectly delightful feelgood novel charms gracefully." Not only does it have a clear, complete arc but the premise that worked so well is canceled by the door-closing ending, stating clearly, "We can't go back." Moreover, I was warned that the second, though fun, wasn't as good.

Even so, I found the contrast striking.

Where book 1 has direction, momentum, and an apt conclusion, book 2 meanders.

Where book 1 seems to flow naturally and of its own accord, book 2 feels forced and contrived.

Where book 1 is robust, show more book 2 is saccharine.

Where book 1 gives us character, book 2 gives us caricature.

In sum, as I knew I might be, I was left wishing I'd quit at one. But my pleasure in the main characters and their interactions with their community inevitably led me on. I'll stop now. show less

Readers first met authoress Barbara Buncle in Miss Buncle's Book, in which she wrote thinly disguised novels about her neighbors in Silverstream under the pen name “John Smith.” In this sequel, Barbara has married her publisher, Arthur Abbott. The newlyweds move to the village of Wandlebury where their new neighbors prove to be just as eccentric as the inhabitants of Silverstream. A case of mistaken identity and Barbara's attempts to play matchmaker for Arthur's nephew, Sam, provide laugh-out-loud moments. The village setting and family conflict could have come from an Agatha Christie novel. The difference is the tone. Agatha Christie's village would have a sinister undertone. D. E. Stevenson's village is filled with warmth and humor.

Miss Buncle's absurd adventures continue in this light and entertaining sequel. I absolutely love that the Abbotts decide to move away from their living situation, rather than admit to a dislike of dinner parties and card games -- ridiculous, but so satisfying to my inner curmudgeon.

(21 January 2012 – from Matthew)

My last unread Persephone book – but as we’re now in September, I think I’ve strung them out pretty well! This is the sequel to the marvellous “Miss Buncle’s Book”, and a little longer and slower going, which made it a lovely, wallowy read. Miss Buncle is now Mrs Abbott, house-hunting then settling into small town life, with a crop of rather odd children tumbling around in the garden and various random town ‘characters’. But of COURSE, Miss Buncle isn’t going to write a book about them and risk being hounded out of town …

I love the portrayal of female friendships and the jolly lingo of nephew, Sam, who needs to buckle down. But will he, when the place is populated by suspected show more ghosts, there’s a Will that the wrong people know about, and poets and artists knocking around who cause one to ponder on the relative nature of good and bad art. And, in the end, will something happen that will mean another bout of upheaval for the Abbotts, surely the most happily married couple in literature? show less

D.E. Stevenson continues the story of Miss Buncle in Miss Buncle Married. In the foreword she writes that this sequel took much more planning and was more difficult to write than its predecessor, Miss Buncle's Book, but that she feels it is superior to that title. I'm not sure any comparison is needed; they are both highly enjoyable stories that are oddly hard to put down.

In this tale, Miss Barbara Buncle has married her publisher Mr. Abbott and they are settling into their happy married life together. To escape the endless rounds of boring parties and bridge amongst their friends, they move to the country and become involved in the village life there. By a laughable mistake at the lawyers' office, Barbara is mistaken for a local show more noblewoman and is given a draft of that lady's new will to read. The knowledge she gains suddenly matters later when the to-be heiress and the Abbotts' nephew become romantically involved.

I won't give anything else away, but be warned that an Elizabethan fancy dress ball costume comes into play. And trousers are stolen. And Barbara writes another novel! I do think I prefer the first one by half a star, but this was a fun sequel and I can't wait for my next Stevenson title! show less