A Final Post for Dean Street December

This month, Liz of Adventures in Reading, Running and Working from Home has been hosting Dean Street December. As I have not finished my current book, I thought I would highlight some of my reading from Dean Street Press:

Charlotte Fairlie by D.E. Stevenson

Charlotte is the relatively new headmistress at St. Elizabeth’s, a well-regarded girls’ boarding school she attended before Oxford - she wore a dowdy hat at her interview so her male interviewers wouldn’t think she was too young. She takes pride in her work and in knowing the girls but she is lonely because befriending the staff would create jealousy. New girl Tessa MacRynne breaks through Charlotte's reserve when her parents get divorced and she tries to run away back to Scotland.  Charlotte identifies with Tessa, having gone through a

Kate Hardy by D.E. Stevenson – an unexpected look at class

Title: Kate Hardy
Author: D.E. Stevenson
Publication: Dean Street Press, paperback, 2022 (originally 1947)
Genre: Fiction
Setting: English countryside

Description: Richard Morven is surprised when someone buys the Dower House he has put on the market sight-unseen and everyone in the village of Old Quinings is agog to see Kate Hardy when she moves in. When he calls on his new neighbor, Richard is immediately captivated by the outgoing woman he guesses to be about 30.

The House of the Deer by D.E. Stevenson

Title: The House of the Deer
Author: D.E. Stevenson
Publication: Collins, hardcover, 1970
Genre: Fiction
Setting: 20th-century Scotland

Description: In this companion novel to Gerald and Elizabeth, Gerald Burleigh Brown, now working for his brother-in-law, is invited to substitute for Sir Walter on a deer-shooting holiday. Sir Walter MacCallum manages a successful ship building business is Glasgow, and concerns about security and the fact that his wife – Gerald’s sister Elizabeth – is pregnant influenced him to send Gerald in his place.

Anna and Her Daughters, a story about sisters by D.E. Stevenson

Title: Anna and Her Daughters
Author: D.E. Stevenson
Publication: Ulverscroft hardcover, originally published 1958
Genre: Fiction
Setting: 20th century London and Scotland

Description: When Anna’s husband dies unexpectedly, leaving very little money, she decides to retrench by moving to a cottage in rural Scotland with her three daughters.

Smouldering Fire by D.E. Stevenson

Title: Smouldering Fire
Author: D.E. Stevenson
Publication: Furrowed Middlebrow/Dean Street Press, paperback, originally published 1935
Genre: Fiction
Setting: Scotland

Description: The life of a Scottish Laird is not as idyllic as it used to be, even in D.E. Stevenson land. Iain MacAslan loves Ardfalloch so much that, in order to pay the bills, he forces himself to lease it to a rich businessman for the hunting season.

Mrs. Tim Flies Home by D.E. Stevenson

Title: Mrs. Tim Flies Home
Author: D.E. Stevenson
Introduction: Alexander McCall Smith
Publication: Furrowed Middlebrow/Dean Street Press, 2019 (originally published 1952)
Genre: Fiction

Description: After 18 months in Kenya with her husband Tim, a colonel on active duty, Hester Christie wants to spend time with her children, so flies home to England, with a layover in Rome.

Fletchers End by D.E. Stevenson #1962Club

Title: Fletchers End
Author: D.E. Stevenson
Publication: Ace Books, paperback, originally published in 1962
Genre: Fiction
Setting: 20th century Britain

my copy is a bit garish!

I read Fletchers End for the 1962 Club, which Simon from Stuck in a Book and Karen from Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings are hosting this week.

"New" D.E. Stevensons from Furrowed Middlebrow

Scott at Furrowed Middlebrow published eleven “new” D. E. Stevenson books this month, some of which I had read from the library but a few I had never read at all, including the two below, which is very exciting. Each of these reprints includes an autobiographical essay from 1950 by Stevenson, originally created as promotional material for her novel Music in the Hills (which was also reprinted recently and is one of my favorites).

The Musgraves (1960)

The Musgraves are another DES family consisting of an attractive widow and three daughters, who have enough money for a servant or two but still need to be careful of expenses.

Amberwell, Summerhills, Still Glides the Stream (Book Review)

Title: Amberwell (1955), Summerhills (1956), Still Glides the Stream (1959) (Ayrton Family)
Author: D.E. Stevenson
Publication: Fans of Stevenson are bringing these charming books back into print so you may be able to find them inexpensively
Genre: Fiction

Plot: Amberwell and Summerhills are about the Ayrton family, five children growing up on an affluent estate in Scotland before WWII, doted on by the devoted servants but ignored by their parents. Initially, this doesn’t matter as the siblings are close and love their home, but the sisters suffer from their parents’ expectation that an inadequate governess can provide all the education and social interaction they need. The two brothers are fortunate because they are sent to boarding school and groomed for careers, although the younger son is bullied into taking up medicine when he wants to join the Navy. The sisters have a harder time escaping their parents’ cold, controlling authority, and do so with varying success.  Connie, the eldest sister, is a bit like Susan in the Narnia books.

Time for you to try some D.E. Stevenson?

Just a quick post to share this delightful speech that D.E. Stevenson gave to the "book trade" in Glasgow in or around the late 1960s.   Check out the Dean Street Press blog to read it.

Stevenson (1892-1973) was a bestselling author of light romantic fiction, known for her warm and captivating characters, her humor, her vivid settings (often Scotland but sometimes London), and her wonderful storytelling.   Reading about how she crafted her stories was very interesting for a fan like me.

For those who have never read her books, several have been reprinted by the Furrowed Middlebrow imprint of Dean Street Press.   Try one of these in book or electronic form:

Spring Magic - 25-year-old Frances Field escapes to a small village in Scotland to finds herself

Vittoria Cottage - Caroline, a young widow, and her children, find romance in small English town - but it's complicated . . .

Mrs. Tim Christie (aka Mrs. Tim of the Regiment) - Set in the 1930s, this is written in the form of journal entries about Hester Christie's quirky life as the wife of a British military officer.

I look forward to adding to my shelves soon!

Miss Buncle's Book by D.E. Stevenson

When our fellow humans annoy us with their squabbles and predictability, don’t we all fantasize about memorializing them in fiction – to their detriment?* 

The Four Graces by D.E. Stevenson

Title: The Four Graces
Author: D.E. Stevenson
Publication: Collins, hardcover, 1947
Genre: Fiction
Setting: WWII Britain

Description: Mr. Grace is the vicar in Chevil Green, near Wandlebury, and the Four Graces are his lovely daughters: Elizabeth, Sal, Tilly, and Addie. Liz works on Archie Cobbe’s (last seen in The Two Mrs. Abbotts) farm and Addie is in the WAAF, based in London, while the middle sisters housekeep for their father and manage parish affairs.

My February 2022 Reads

Seven of my nineteen February books were rereads, a much higher percentage than usual; indicating some comfort reading, I suppose. Sometimes with Elizabeth Cadell and D.E. Stevenson, one can’t tell if it was read before until halfway through as both were prolific and the titles sometimes sound interchangeable even when the stories are distinctive.  But my favorite new-to-me read was Dead Wake by Erik Larson, the story of the Lusitania’s last voyage, which I highly recommend.

King Cake

My October 2023 Reads

October was a busy month with a business trip to Tulsa (no direct flights, so lots of reading time), some reading for the 1962 Club, and hosting my book group’s discussion of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow (not everyone finished it). My favorites this month were Just Another Missing Person, The Serpent Pool, Witch of the Glens, and two from D.E. Stevenson, along with several rereads.  Three reads this month were audiobooks.

Mrs. Lorimer's Quiet Summer by Molly Clavering #DeanStreetDecember24

As the introduction by Elizabeth Crawford to this new edition points out, after serving as a Wren in WWII, Molly Clavering settled in Moffat, in Dumfries and Galloway, in the Scottish Borders. She was already acquainted with another writer, D.E. Stevenson, who had moved to Moffat with her husband James after the bombing of Glasgow in the early 1940s. This is the story of two writer friends during one full summer, inspired by the real life friendship of Molly and Dorothy.

Bel Lamington by D.E. Stevenson

Title: Bel Lamington
Author: D.E. Stevenson
Publication: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, hardcover, 1961
Genre: Fiction
Setting: Great Britain

Description: After Bel’s aunt dies, she is on her own and leaves Sussex for a tiny flat in London and a secretarial job at an import/export firm. She finds the work interesting but is lonely and the other office staff resent that her industry is recognized when she is promoted to work for a young partner, Ellis Brownlee.

Gerald and Elizabeth by D.E. Stevenson

Title: Gerald and Elizabeth
Author: D.E. Stevenson
Publication: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, hardcover, 1969
Genre: Fiction
Setting: Great Britain

Description: Gerald is returning to London after a disastrous experience in Cape Town working for a diamond mine. The lovely young American women aboard the ship cannot distract him from his gloom, although one tries to cheer him up and tells him about an incident when she too was misjudged.

Favorite Reads of 2019

Happy New Year and wishing you many delightful reads in 2020! I am enjoying seeing other people's "Best of" year-end lists, even when I haven't read any of their books.  There is always room on my TBR pile for books that sound appealing.

Historical Fiction

Dear Mrs. Bird by A.J. Pearce (2018)
This wound up being my favorite book of the year!  A warm and emotional story of a young woman who yearns to be a war correspondent during WWII but finds a job instead working on advice magazine during the day (what the Brits call an Agony Aunt) while doing her bit for the war at night as bombs fall.  You know how much I like books with WWII settings but some have become almost a cliche of tired plots.   This was fresh and appealing, humorous at times, heartbreaking at others, and altogether delightful. Those who remember Dear Lovey Hart will love it.

Dear Hugo by Molly Clavering

Title: Dear Hugo
Author: Molly Clavering (1900-1995)
Publication: Dean Street Press/Furrowed Middlebrow, paperback, 2021 (originally published in 1955)
Genre: Fiction
Setting: 1950s Britain

Description: Having lost her fiancé during the war, Sara Monteith decides to make a new home for herself in a small town called Ravenskirk in the Scottish Borders.