👗 Enters Captain Charles Weatherby, a smashing gentleman with good upbringing and lovely personality, who's immediately smitten to Jane, a sentiment that she reciprocates. Charles isn't the only man attracted to Jane, Harold Prestcott is another admirer. Harold is what we call "his mother's son". Mrs Prestcott is a selfish woman who dominate her son to be quite her slave.
👗 Unknown to anyone, Jane has a twin sister, Joan. While they are physically identical, Joan is quite different in personality to Jane. Joan is bolder, carefree, and often mischievous. She ran away from a bullying ruthless suitor from London, and take refuge at Dingleford Cottage. And for that reason, the sisters agree to keep Joan's presence a secret. And this forms the foundation of hilarious incidents and misidentification that made this novel another, softer, version of Wodehouse's stories.
👗 When Harold first came to Dingleford Cottage, it was Joan that he met, but he thought she's Jane. Joan seemed to equally like this sweet and simple young man. You can imagine, then, how astonished Charles, Harold, and others when they met Joan, whom they thought was Jane. Some awkward and comical meetings and misunderstandings are sure to take place! Not mentioning how Stevenson deliberately naming her heroine "Fortune". If you imagine there would surely be someone mentioning Miss Fortune, and the other misinterpreting it as "misfortune", well, you're not wrong. It sounds foolish, but to me those make this novel charming and delicious to read! Just the kind I need during the craziest time of year - December.
👗 The funniest scene is when a colonel is picking up Jane to be his guest at a dance party. Jane caught a cold the day before, and can't go to the dance. Joan, who loves dancing, insisted on replacing her place. When the colonel arrived - through kitchen door - he incidentally saw Jane, clad in pajamas, going down stairs. The two were astonished, the colonel was especially annoyed in finding Jane wasn't ready yet and thought he must wait at least twenty five minutes more. Imagine how astonished he was when not five minutes later Joan entered the kitchen, beautifully attired in gorgeous dress, make up, and all - and didn't understand the colonel's astonishment. (If you don't think it's that funny, it's because I'm not good at describing it😆)
👗 All in all, it's a satisfying read for me. This is just my second D.E. Stevenson, and though it's in different league from Vittoria Cottage, I still love it. I love them both equally. Interesting fact: D.E. Stevenson wrote this in 1930s but the book was only published posthumously in 2011, and Dean Street published it in 2022.
Rating: 4,5 / 5
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Excellent, I really enjoyed this one, too. I do like a book with a twin confusion and she carries it off beautifully.
ReplyDeleteIn the hand of a less skillful author, the twin confusion trope could be disaster, but Stevenson proved in this one her true qualities.
DeleteI've really enjoyed the few D.E. Stevenson books that I've read (especially her Miss Buncle ones). This one sounds equally delightful. I just wish my library had a copy of it.
ReplyDeleteSeveral D.E. Stevenson's fans think it silly, but for me it's charming. One need a bit of silliness every now and again, as long as it's written beautifully, right? ;)
DeleteThis sounds like so much fun. I ended up reading a different DE Stevenson for Dean Street December and though different from this it was very enjoyable
ReplyDelete