A review by helenmcclory
Christmas at Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons

4.0

Pure froth with some funny moments, slight sci-fi touches, and a wearingly long ending. The book makes fun of pastoral gothic novels common in the time of its writing - few are known today, but DH Lawrence and Thomas Hardy probably qualify. Books where everyone is miserable and run down (despite having money and land and mostly their health). So CCF skewers the excesses of passion and purple prosody and adds a little shimmery touch of glamour. The real downsides are the tiny bits that pop up showing the book is of its time (wee racist turns of phrase, very outdated bits about gender) many of which could I think be taken out and put in a footnote in the back without any real harm. It does also take ages to finish and wraps up a little too neatly. But if you are in the mood for a 1930s style comic novel, this is a good thing to pick up.