Cold-Comfort Farm

Indeed, it was an odd book. At first all it was merely a cold- (read:no-) comfort story. I despaired at finishing the book--not because I feared I wouldn't, but because I was more afraid to continue listening to it (it was a book recorded on cd which my mother borrowed from the library). Elen and my mother spurred me on having recommended the work and both having (miraculously) finished it. The stalwart women assured me that you wondered "what in the world?" until you reached the fifth disc. (It is important to note that there are only eight discs in all, so this is a commitment. It was quite a gamble for the author, too. I'm surprised she could afford to make readers wait that long for redemption.) After the long preamble, however, the plot suddenly took off running as if to make up for the fact that not much had previously happened. And quite frankly, at that point I rather began to enjoy the story. There is also a film made from the book which the three of us have pledged to watch.

Written by Stella Gibbons and published in 1932, Cold-Comfort Farm has all the elements of what my mother has named "a 1930s fairytale." A madwoman, a doomed family, farm-living, Hollywood, and a ball, not to mention a heroine who is a conventional young woman and yet simultaneously a fairy-godmother/Mary Poppins hybrid. What can you do with a main character who's passion in life is organization? Read and discover.