We are in 1924. Sixteen year old Panth (short for Panther, a nickname for a name that isn’t fully revealed until almost the end of the book) is writing a diary. Her beloved father has recently died in a sudden accident, and her family of pregnant mother, seemingly sulky older sister, younger sister busy with a pet sheep, and herself are at a moment of crisis. As the diary opens, her mother is in the act of giving birth to the baby their fortunes depend on. The great question is, will this one have a penis or not? If so, they can stay in their home, if not, Cousin Valentine gets it, and they are homeless. What a story opening!
I’m not going to give spoilers here because I want you to read and enjoy the surprises along the way, but I will say that the diary moves into the important question of what Panth is to DO with her life, since she herself is sans penis? She must find LOVE. There is a Rotter. There is Good Man. It all seems inevitable to anybody who has read a few romances. And yet … Read it and find out!
This story for young adults (or middle aged or elderly adults) is a rich mix of Pride and Prejudice (daughters and widowed mother about to be put from their home as it gets inherited by a male cousin), I Capture The Castle (upper class but living in dilapidated and impoverished splendour), Bridgerton (the gossip diary for a newspaper), Downton Abbey (the grandmother prone to strong opinions), and The Durrells (the sibling obsessed with animals), and Fleabag (the frank discussions about sex and birth and abortion). Joanna Nadin has clearly enjoyed herself, writing this, and if you’re in the mood for a funny 1920s romp with a bit more grit than usual, this is a book for you.
3 comments:
This sounds like so much fun! Might be hard to find in the US, but I'm definitely keeping my eyes open. (And maybe rereading my copy of Margery Sharp's A Foolish Gentlewoman!)
What an attractive set of inspirational titles you've suggested in this review, Pippa.
A Calamity of Mannerings sounds marvellous fun, speaking as one of those slightly older readers who'll enjoy this novel.
Those comments swooping from flattery into the most random sales pitches made me laugh! I wonder if there's a story to made from such bot antics?! How did that bot prove they weren't a robot, eh?
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