The Tall Stranger by D.E. Stevenson

Nell is worried about her friend, Barbie France, who has been very sick and is not getting better. When the doctor she works for accompanies her to the hospital in a thick fog, he recommends that Barbie recuperate in the country. Nell calls Barbie’s aunt, Lady Steyne, and Barbie is sent by ambulance to the Cotswolds to Underwoods to rest. Barbie misses her work for an interior decoration firm but it is wonderful to be spoiled by her Aunt Amalie and her companion, Miss Penney.

Her step-cousin, Edward, with whom she grew up but hasn’t seen recently, turns up occasionally on weekends. And Daphne, the daily help, sees a “tall stranger” in Barbie’s tea leaves:

“There’s wedding bells,” continued Daphne. “That’ll be Miss Mainwaring’s wedding most likely . . . and there’s an important letter from the north that’ll change your life. You’ll lose something – it’ll be something valuable – but you’ll find it again all right. There’s a ring – see, Miss Barbie, it’s down there at the bottom of the cup. There’ll be trouble about money . . . and you’ll go a journey and a voyage across the water . . . .”

Barbie does meet a tall stranger, Henry Buckland, at a local wedding and feels such a sense of connection that she invites him to tea – and is disappointed when he is a no-show. Later, when Edward proposes, she accepts, knowing how happy it will make Aunt Amalie, but she breaks the engagement the next day when she learns more about her fiancé. Recovered from her illness and returning to her job, she finds out there was an important letter from the north, and goes to Scotland to meet with an important customer – surprise, she is the sister of Henry Buckland, the appealing stranger.

Stevenson covers a lot of ground (not merely the move from London to the Scottish border country) in this charming story. The book starts off from Nell’s point of view, so it was a bit surprising to have Barbie turn out to be the main character and sometimes critical of Nell’s many boyfriends; however, both are good characters and loyal friends. Stevenson clearly thinks London is a terrible place to live – full of fog (although it doesn’t seem to be 1952) and dreadful, imposing neighbors. Barbie regains her strength from her mysterious illness once she is at her beloved Underwoods. She and her aunt share a sense of integrity and Barbie is also very determined, which turns out to be essential when a child is lost and she is the only person with a clue where to find her. Her visit to Scotland is delightful, including descriptions of how she would redecorate the 600-year-old Oddam Castle and Henry Buckland’s unsuccessful efforts to speak to her alone. I particularly liked that Barbie loves her career, is valued by her boss (what a concept) and does not want to give it up when she gets married, which perhaps reflects the 1957 pub date – Stevenson may have realized more of her readers did not want or could not afford to be stay-at-home wives.

A foggy night in
London town . . .

There is a website that covers the relationships in Stevenson’s books and apparently there is a connection to Five Windows, which I will have to reread.   Thanks to Dean Street Press for republishing this and other Stevenson titles!  This edition of The Tall Stranger includes an autobiographical sketch written by Stevenson, which is quite interesting and is included in all the DSP reprints. Unlike some authors, she does not despise Americans!  Hey, we buy books and should always be appreciated!

Unrelated, is anyone watching Bookish? I have only seen the first episode so far but a customer came into Book’s Books asking for the newest Georgette Heyer. It is a used bookstore so Mr. Book does not have it so he says GH is a “smasher” but offers her The Scarlet Pimpernel instead. We can’t have her going to Foyles! I recognize the policeman from Magpie Murders as one of the other shopkeepers.

Off the Blog: Boston has been a winter wonderland for the last 24 hours. We got nearly 18 inches of snow and everyone is working from home today. The streets are now clear but my driveway and front path are awaiting an expensive-but-worth-it second visit from my snowplow team.  Even if I liked shoveling, it is hard to lift/toss even light snow when it is this high.

Title: The Tall Stranger
Author: D.E. Stevenson
Publication: Dean Street Press, paperback, originally published in 1957
Genre: Fiction
Source: Library.  I think I discarded my copy accidentally.

Other Stevenson reviews:  Amberwell and its sequels, Anna and Her Daughters, Bel Lamington, Celia's House, Charlotte Fairlie, The Fair Miss Fortune, Fletchers End, The Four Graces, Gerald and Elizabeth, The House of the Deer, Kate Hardy, Mrs. Tim Flies Home, The Musgraves, Miss Buncle's Book, and Smouldering Fire.  I am guessing Stevenson is my most reviewed author.  She wrote more than 40 books and I think I have read all of them at least once.  If you have never read any of her books, start with Miss Buncle's Book or Charlotte Fairlie.

Other reviews of The Tall Stranger: Adventures in reading, running and working from home and Pining for the West

Spoiler: When Edward offers to bring his aunt’s ring to a jeweler because the setting is loose, I expected him to sell it and replace it with a fake. Maybe that happened in some other book?  Jerri will remember!  Instead, he used it to pretend he and Barbie were engaged to scare off the Tall Stranger.