Author: D.E. Stevenson
Publication: Collins, hardcover, 1947
Genre: Fiction
Setting: WWII Britain
My Impression: Sisters are always one of Stevenson’s strengths, and in this lesser-known family story she does a good job of creating four appealing young women with distinct personalities. Tilly, the quietest sister, plays the organ at her father’s church and this has honed her observation skills – no one can see her from the gallery but she can see them so she sees the first threat to their tranquil life – a handsome army officer who admires Sal while at his friend’s wedding. The course of true love takes some time to run smooth, enlivened by Mr. Grace’s easy hospitality. Naturally, he does none of the work this requires, never consults anyone before extending invitations, ignores rationing constraints, and hides in his study from troublesome guests. His daughters are used to him, however, and have a routine worked out:
The Graces had evolved an elaborate technique for dealing with visitors, and especially with their father’s “finds.” His swans were often geese, of course, but even geese have their feelings and the Graces were kind-hearted young women. To a stranger, visiting the vicarage for the first time and entering the drawing-room in the wake of his host, the sight of four young women all at once was overpowering (the Graces knew this from experience, for they had beheld many a poor goose lose his composure and his power of speech and blush to the roots of his hair at the unexpected sight); and to a stranger, sitting in the study and chatting quietly to his host, the entrance of four young women was even more alarming. They had talked it over seriously. “It’s because we’re all rather big,” said Liz. “And rather beautiful,” said Addie.
There were a few surprises in this book (back in print from Sourcebooks), including that Mr. Grace was not as clueless as he seemed, and it is a fun read, although not as lively as some of her books. While it made me want to go back to read the other books set around Wandlebury, Miss Buncle’s Book, Miss Buncle Married, and The Two Mrs. Abbotts, if I’m going to attack the 20 Books of Summer I can’t be distracted by a lot of rereads, can I?
Source: Personal copy
2 comments:
I love the Four Graces, have it in hardback. I have a whole shelf of Stevenson's books, as does my sister. They're our comfort books. I remember discovering them decades ago and collecting the old hardbacks one at a time, then buying paperbacks when I couldn't find the old ones. Back in a time before internet search. I remember going downtown to a used bookstore and getting the owner to search for a particular book for me. It could take months before I'd get a phone call from him but he found many I was after for my collections. What a different time that was, but it was fun to poke around in his rabbit warren of a store. It was an adventure.
I only did bookstore requests like that twice - both for my mother but what I used to love (pre-Internet) was going into a new library and finding books I had always wanted to read. My library growing up had every Betsy-Tacy book except Betsy Was a Junior. It never occurred to me to ask my mother to buy it (my nephews and nieces wouldn't have waited a minute.) I found out my later that the NY Public Library deliberately didn't carry that one because Betsy and her sister switch Protestant denominations. I doubt that was why my city didn't have it but, anyway, the day I found it at the Boston Library, not far away, my mother and I were so excited. And that caused my mother to mention Elswyth Thane for the first time, who became another of my very favorite authors.
I don't recall if she introduced me to Stevenson or if I found them myself but I agree they are the ultimate in comfort reads.
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