Reviews

Miss Buncle's Book by D.E. Stevenson

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shareen17's review against another edition

3.0

An English woman finds herself in need of money and somehow turns to novel-writing as her solution. Her problem is that she has very little imagination so her characters are strikingly similar to the people she knows in her village. So similar that her fellow-villagers easily recognize themselves and become determined to root out the culprit. Cute little vintage story of life in an English village.

sarahlreadseverything's review against another edition

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5.0

Delicious with a capital D - the kind of book to be savored with a cup of tea, or curled up in bed. This was my pick during a recent visit to Persephone Books and did I pick well or what? Miss Buncle's Book is a delight from start to finish. An unassuming middle-aged spinster writes a novel of British life, in an attempt to pay her bills (it was either write a book or keep hens) - the book is an instant bestseller, and turns the real-life village she inhabits on its head, with hilarious and heart-warming results.

Every time I put this book down after a reading session I was left with a warm and fuzzy feeling, and I am so looking forward to discovering more of D.E. Stevenson (and was relieved to find that Persephone publish the two sequels to this one).

liltastypuff's review against another edition

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3.75

Took a bit for me to get into this one, and at times it was a bit tedious (as is common for the time, pub 1932) but overall I enjoyed it. Much of it is very modern in attitude, both a positive and a negative.

siria's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted

4.0

Barbara Buncle lives in genteel poverty in early 30s rural England. When her finances take a hit, she decides to turn to writing, and her book—written under a nom de plume, is a runaway hit. Only Miss Buncle has based her characters on the people who live in her village, who aren't all best pleased with how they've been portrayed, and shenanigans ensue. This is soufflé light, and there are some parts which are a bit far-fetched, but the whole point of this kind of book is to provide some frothy entertainment where the good end happily and the bad (or at least, the not so nice) end unhappily, and that's the kind of book I needed just now.