Summerbook #4: Nightingale Wood

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 Nightingale Wood, by Stella Gibbons

Who among us does not love Cold Comfort Farm?   If you don't, it's probably because you haven't read it.  This one is less well-known, but it's still a fun read, if not the perfect comedic gem that is CCF.  Nobody could pull that off twice, after all.

The Withers are an upper-middle-class family near a village, and their life is completely stultifying.  The two adult daughters are repressed and not allowed to do anything much; all Madge wants is a dog to love, and Tina wants...well, a life.  Into the house comes Viola, the young widow of the oldest son.  She was, horrors, a shopgirl, and she hasn't really got anywhere to go.  Is she, too, going to see her youth wasted in the desiccated atmosphere of the Wither home?

Through winding byways, walks through the wood, and heartbreak, each member of the family eventually comes to find their own version of happiness.   

It's a nice read, a pleasant 1930s domestic novel.  Fun but nothing to write home about.  In fact it turns out I read it and posted about it here in 2012, but I have no memory whatsoever about it!   This is why I have a blog, because otherwise I forget.

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