A review by robinwalter
The Fair Miss Fortune by D.E. Stevenson

funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

Of the hundreds of Hindi films I've watched, one of the handful that I have watched more than once is the 1982 comedy Angoor. It's an adaptation of Shakespeare's A Comedy of Errors, so when I read in the correspondence between D.E. Stevenson and her publisher that "fair misfortune" had been rejected in part because it was a comedy about twins, I was predisposed to like it. I was not even remotely disappointed. The fact that one of the key characters later uttered a line in Urdu  that brought to mind yet another Indian comedy film I enjoyed was a serendipitous surprise. 

I started "The Fair Miss Fortune" on a lazy sunny Sunday afternoon in early Summer, and the book was perfect for that setting. It was relaxing without being soporific, humorous but not nasty, insightful of human nature in an understanding way. I really enjoyed the writing, here are a few of my favourite examples 

 

all at once he realised the odd fact that he liked these people individually—it was only en masse that he detested them. When people got together like this, thought Charles, they suddenly became like caricatures 

 

Only one eye was visible to Charles, but it was as full of mischief as any two eyes have a right to be. 

 

Fire had always been a friend, giving warmth and comfort, but here it was a terrible ravening enemy before whose strength and fury men were powerless. 

 

One of the most fascinating parts of the reading experience for this book relates to the fact that it is a Dean Street Press reissue, in collaboration with  Furrowed Middlebrow Books. Dean Street Press always adds value to their reissues with introductions and other material to enhance and enrich the read. In this case, the correspondence between the author and her publisher before the book started, and the author's own biographical notes after the end of the book were interesting because she was writing as herself, not as an author. It was fascinating to see an "ordinary person" writing and speaking normally as it were, before and after   creating art, as was the case with the words  of the novel itself.

 

This was my first "middlebrow" read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. By about the two thirds mark, I had come to think of it as being not unlike a less frenetic Wodehouse - the same gentle humour, the same inevitability about the happy outcome, but a more gentle pace, as if the author were aiming more for smiles and chuckles than outright laughs. More Blandings than Wooster, as it were. 

 

The only slightly wrong note about the book was the French character. That character's dialogue reinforced my conviction that, while Elmore Leonard's rules for writing may be more guidelines than rules, number seven should be carved in stone and never broken under any circumstances. That minor niggle aside this was a wonderful book, and I am looking forward to more.