Description

Thirty essays gathered from London magazines and a Yorkshire newspaper showcase a fresh literary voice finding wonder in the ordinary. A forgotten provincial actor is rescued from the footnotes of theatrical history. A mouth-organ becomes the occasion for a meditation on humble music. The terror of empty railway carriages, the etiquette of refusing to meet one's favorite authors, the strange comfort of a country road at dusk-each subject is approached with the same wry curiosity and quiet delight. Written in the great tradition of English belles-lettres, somewhere between Lamb and Beerbohm, these pieces capture the cadences of early twentieth-century life: its provincial players and country shepherds, its bad pianists and paragon hosts, its small dignities and larger embarrassments.

The voice is companionable, unhurried, opinionated yet never strident, and shot through with the gentle humor of an Englishman who has read widely and observed his countrymen with affection.