Iris in Winter by Elizabeth Cadell - 20BOS26-10

Iris longs to be a reporter, and she got a job at a well-regarded newspaper and has a nice apartment in Knightsbridge but is stuck sketching hats and writing meaningless columns – far from serious journalism. When her unpleasant boss (who only gave Iris a job because he has a crush on her sister, Caroline) finally comes up with a news assignment for her – to investigate an incident that happened at a boys’ school – conveniently located in High Ambo, where Iris is about to go visit her sister, she realizes this is her big chance.

It’s a lame assignment and a silly plot, not up to Cadell’s usual standard. However, it gets Iris on the train to High Ambo where she makes the acquaintance of David Carruthers, a student at the prep school, Castle Ambo, a friendly chatterbox, and the French teacher, Mr. Sheridan, whose indifference piques Iris’ interest. She is used to being pursued and becomes determined to get him to admit he likes her.

Caroline, a 28-year-old widow, wanted a quiet life in the country, away from interfering in-laws, but once Iris arrives, any hope of a peaceful time is over. Iris hates the cottage and not impressed by the eccentric neighbors but everyone visits them at Lilac Cottage: their landlady, Miss Stannard, whose tea parties are dreaded; the retired colonel who offers to run Caroline’s errands but pockets the money; the music master who insists on giving Caroline singing lessons; the scruffy boys who turn up hopefully around tea time; Caroline and Iris’s dreaded brother, Robert – everyone, in fact, except Michael Sheridan busy resisting Iris’s advances. Caroline and Iris surprise themselves by liking their brother’s fiancée:

There was silence for a time. Iris was lost in astonishment an speculation and Caroline and Polly watched her. At last she spoke.

“No!” The word held decisive unbelief. “No, Carol, no!”

“Yes, Iris, yes,” said Caroline. “I felt just as you do.”

Iris’s eyes appeared to be riveted on the newcomer, but her words were addressed to Caroline. “You mean – she really is?”

“Really is,” said Caroline.

“Good Heavens!” said Iris in the purest amazement. “Who would – who could ever have believed it? How old,” she asked slowly, “would you say, Carol?”

“First,” said Caroline, “I thought sixteen and then I said, ‘Well, no, seventeen,’ but when I saw her stuffing cake into her mouth I said, ‘No, sixteen.’”

“Do you think,” asked Iris, “do – you – think she has faintest idea what she’s in for?”

Polly spoke. “I like Robert,” she said.

This is one of the 50+ books that Cadell’s descendants are bringing back into print in multiple formats. While the plot is minimal, Iris in Winter succeeds as an amusing comedy of manners, with vivid and convincing characters. Although I had not read it before, this is considered one of Cadell’s classic novels, featuring a chaotic assemblage of relatives and neighbors, as well as a light romance (yes, eventually Mr. Sheridan succumbs to Iris). I especially liked the persistent boys from the school.

Title: Iris in Winter
Author: Elizabeth Cadell
Publication: Friendly Air Publishing, paperback, originally published in 1949
Genre: Fiction
Source: Personal copy

Reading Iris in Winter contributed to this challenge:

• 20 Books of Summer 2026