On the HahaFiction shelf

A Damsel in Distress

Lady Maud's aunt is keeping her at Belpher Castle after a romantic attachment the family dislikes. American songwriter George Bevan falls for Maud and follows her to Hampshire. Her father would prefer everyone to leave him alone with his roses.

From the publisher’s blurb

“A P.G. Wodehouse novel”
Read the full description at Penguin publisher description
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What makes it funny?

Lady Caroline watches a young couple and pictures an engagement. The Earl is more concerned with the insects attacking his roses. The narrator gives the gardener's murderous feelings toward pests the gravity of a great historical conflict.

The comedy at work

The family can't agree on what deserves their attention. Lady Caroline plans marriages, the Earl gardens and Reggie thinks about golf. Wodehouse lets the narrator linger over their private obsessions as the misunderstandings accumulate.

Try this if…

A light country-house romance for readers who enjoy intrusive relatives and a narrator willing to spend time on someone's very serious feelings about rose pests.

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