REVIEW: My Dear Aunt Flora by Elizabeth Cadell
At Rushing Farm, the Manning household—with Aunt Flora at its head—lives in harmony. With the appearance of George Manning, however, peace is at an end. George is a successful actor, spoilt and selfish. He sees nothing at Rushing but discomfort and boredom, and his relations hope that he will carry out his repeated threat of departing by the next train. But with the arrival of Brian Lorimer and the enchanting Angela Reynolds, George finds something at Rushing which proves a greater attraction than his comfortable existence in London.
CW/TW – There are many things in these stories that continue to entertain modern readers; however, in a few cases there are also uses of language, instances of stereotyping, and some attitudes expressed by narrators or characters, which may not go over as well by the publishing standards of today.
Review
I ended up enjoying this book immensely however I will give fair warning that it took a while to reach that point. At the beginning, I seriously thought about setting this one aside and labeling it one of the rare Cadell failures for me. But I read some reviews in which long-time Cadell readers called it one of their favorites so I stuck with it.
If you begin reading it and feel as if you’re suddenly surrounded by a large family that you don’t know, whose relationship to each other is a mystery to you, and you think slowly backing out then running for the hills is a good idea, welcome to the start of “My Dear Aunt Flora.” I think this is one of the first written/published books by Cadell but she does her patented “everything except the kitchen sink” plot. Still it might seem as if nothing is really going on, all the while that things are going on.
Jonny and Phyl are two widows who, after the deaths of their husbands, decided to move house to leave sad memories and immediately regretted it. Now they’ve decided to check out a ramshackle house far in the country that Jonny and her husband inherited before his death. They manage to coax Aunt Flora into coming with them and before the afternoon is over, they’ve decided to move there. The action then moves ahead a year during which they’ve worked on the house and the garden. They’ve also become a part of the local social scene which includes a lot of people. Be prepared to be puzzled for a little while until you remember all these characters.
Now it’s summer and Jonny’s children are running wild with the locals while the adults keep the house and garden going and do the country social rounds. It’s not high society by any means but Aunt Flora drilled old school manners into them all. Then Phyl makes a mistake by painting an idyllic picture of their lives to her brother George, a famous stage actor in need of some months of relaxation. George is, as his relatives quickly admit, a spoiled and selfish person. The first few scenes with George are eye opening and he doesn’t ever get much better.
Then two other people appear – a man who has loved Phyl since before her first marriage and a beautiful young woman who stops George cold in his tracks. Brian and Angela fit into the mass of people but before too long, Events Begin to Happen. Brian finally screws his courage to the sticking point and pops a question while George falls madly in love. But while one relationship appears to be sailing along beautifully, the other is in rough waters. Can the family fire off one couple and salvage the hopes of the other?
So yes, if you choose to try this story, be prepared. It does take a little while to get its legs under it and the pace is languid – much like this 1947 British country summer. While nothing really seems to be occurring, a lot is actually going on. The family loves each other and cheerfully welcomes newcomers even if a few are sometimes a trial. People freely and easily move from house to house and manners are always maintained. Also the children have been brought up to pitch in without parents needing to badger them.
Then comes the wedding. Mountains of presents and tons of telegrams show up. The despairing hostesses can’t get a firm headcount for the nibbles and there’s yelling back and forth all over the house. Have you ever been to a wedding where lots of relatives you hardly know appear, all demanding face-time with the bridal party? Yeah, that, too. It’s all a rushed, delightful madhouse. Yet in the end, everything is pulled off and by the end of the day, the guests are gone. Think “High Society” crossed with “Father of the Bride.” It did take me a little while to settle into it but now it’s one the plus side for me, too. B
~Jayne
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Always a pleasure to hear about another Cadell book, unknown to me. And at least this one doesn’t have a juvenile cover, albeit still a little Disney-like.
Posts like this remind me about the books I so want to read, that I own, and are languishing in that metric-ton TBR pile. Is it a lack of discipline that I can’t stop putting library books on hold and reading them before they expire? It’s like someone shouted *squirrel* and I’m off. Maybe when I get through these last three holds …
@Darlynne: Most of the cartoonish covers have now been redone. Many of them even look as if they’re for adult books!
Also most of the books have gone down to $2.99 each from $7.99.
Thank you for the review and the note about pricing. At $7.99 I would sigh and ponder my life-work choices, but at $2.99, I happily one-clicked.
@Darlynne: I think Darlynne and I are twins separated at birth. I too own many books that remain unread because I see recommendations here, there, and everywhere and put those books on hold at the library or through Libby. Those books then appear and of course I have to read them first because they have a due date, so the poor books on the shelves of my bookcases languish, unread.