Who Knew One Book Could Cause So Much Chaos? Barbara Bunde is in a bind. Times are harsh, and Barbara’s bank account has seen better days. Maybe she could sell a novel … if she knew any stories. Stumped for ideas, Barbara draws inspiration from her fellow residents of Silverstream, the little English village she knows inside and out. To her surprise, the novel is a smash. It’s a good thing she … a good thing she wrote under a pseudonym, because the folks of Silverstream are in an uproar. But what really turns Miss Bunde’s world around is this: what happens to the characters in her book starts happening to their real-life counterparts. Does life really imitate art?
A beloved author who has sold more than seven million books, D. E. Stevenson is at her best with Miss Buncle’s Book, crafting a highly original and charming tale about what happens when people see themselves through someone else’s eyes.
“Love it, love it, love it”
“There are no vampires, no faeries, no weird creatures, just a sweet story about real people living in a world I’ve always dreamed of.” Reader Review”
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I have the hard copy of this book, which was given to me as a present, and I cherish every page. The story is about Barbara Buncle, a thirtysomething spinster, living in a small country village in England between the wars. She comes from a genteel background, has never worked, but is in trouble: the investments made by her parents and left to her have depreciated in value to the point where she barely has enough money to live and pay for her ‘cookmaid’, who has been with her since birth.
So she decides to write a book and, because she has ‘no imagination’, writes about her neighbours in the village, describing them exactly as they are, and giving some of them the happy endings that they deserve. When the book is published and people in the village read it, they are up in arms and scandalised, never once realising who the author is. The book turns their lives upside down and life in the village is never the same again.
When I first started reading the book it was a little confusing as I had to get my head around a large cast of characters as well as their fictional counterparts. However, once I settled into it, the story flowed easily and was an absolute delight. Miss Buncle’s Book is hands down one of my favourite books and I have read it cover to cover at least five times. I love this book so much and doubt I will ever tire of reading it.
DE Stevenson (1892-1973) sold 4 million copies of her books in the UK and 3 million in America and Miss Buncle’s Book was one of her most popular titles.
I read this book many years ago, and it was out of print at the time, and I had to find a ragged copy second-hand. It is a delightful comedy about a woman who needs to make a living, after her investments dwindle. She decides to write a book, but doesn’t have an imagination, so models her characters after the quirky folk in her village. She changes their names, and changes her name to John Smith. When her book becomes a best seller, there is outrage in the village when they realize they have been held up for ridicule, and their is a hunt to find out who this John Smith is, so they can tar and feather him. It is really quite funny. A must read.
I loved this book! 5 stars, 2 big “thumbs up.”
It was written in 1934 by D.E. (Dorothy) Stevenson, whose cousin is author Robert Louis Stevenson. Others have called the book “charming,” and I can’t think of a better description.
Set in the 1934 Depression Era, in the quiet English village of Silverstream, Miss Buncle’s Book is the story of a young woman, Barbara Buncle, who is driven by financial circumstances to earn a living. She writes a book based on her observations of the little town and its inhabitants. Written under the pseudonym, John Smith, Barbara changes the names of the town and the characters, and the book quickly becomes a smashing success.
Once the book becomes “all the rage” in the town of Silverstream, the neighbors begin to recognize themselves within its pages, and they are not pleased. Most are painted in an unflattering light, so they are determined to find out the identity of “John Smith” and sue him for libel.
In many ways, Miss Buncle’s Book reminds me of The Help, one of my “Favorites.”
This book is full of wit and biting satire, reminiscent of the writings of Jane Austen and Louisa May Alcott. It’s the first of 4 books in the Miss Buncle series and my favorite, so far.
This is a very “old fashioned” book….It was written in 1934 (!) by a woman from Scotland, who was born in the late 19th century.
It is absolutely a product of its and it’s authors’ time and era! That is the main part of it’s charm.
Read it, and if you like it, see the other books by D. E. Stevenson, which are totally escapist and take you back to what was, in many ways, a “golden age” (though the people of the time probably did not think so!).