A review by nigellicus
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons

funny lighthearted

5.0

Like watching a chemical reaction where a solution of part Mary Poppins part Jane Austen dissolves a thick wodge of Thomas Hardy into a bubbling froth, our heroine takes on a farm of melodramatic pastoral archetypes filled with suspicion and paranoia and religion and assorted passions and oppressions and neurosis and casually dismantles them and gives everyone a happy ending using only taste, restraint and intelligence. Most pages yield up at least one laugh-out-loud gem, the names are hilarious and the passages of particular literary merit are marked with stars for your convenience. Utterly lovable.