Miss Buncle's Book

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In Miss Buncle’s Book, Barbara Buncle is a single lady in her thirties. Due to a dwindling income, she decides to write a book to try to earn some extra money. She doesn’t have any imagination, she insists, so she writes what she knows–her neighbors in the town of Silverstream. She changes their names and has them interact in different ways. She sends the manuscript in under the pseudonym John Smith. One of the other initial books from the Miss Buncle series was published under the title The Two Mrs. Abbotts. This book was released in the year 1943 by the Ulverscroft publishers.

The series begins with Barbara in a bind. Her bank account is low, times are harsh, and she’s seen better days. One area that she thinks she could be a success in is selling a novel, but right now she doesn’t know any stories and is fresh out of ideas. So Barbara decides to write a novel using the residents of her small village of Silverstream as her inspiration. To her surprise, the novel is a smash. It's a good thing she wrote under a pseudonym, because the folks of Silverstream are in an uproar. But what really turns Miss Buncle'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, and can she harness that power for good? Dorothy Emily Stevenson, escritora y novelista, publicó en 1934 el primer tomo de la trilogía de Barbara Buncle «El libro de la señorita Buncle». Sus novelas tienen fama de ser humorísticas, románticas y alegres, un entretenimiento seguro; por ello decidí darle una oportunidad, deseando escapar del drama que es lo que suelo leer habitualmente y qué gran elección ha resultado ser. Bearing the title in mind, there are no big surprises to the content of the novel, but with the author's usual simple, but totally absorbing story-telling and the masterly characterisation, it just does not matter. Most of the book series written by Stevenson are often linked to one another. She was born as Dorothy Emily Stevenson on November 18, 1892. Her death took place on December 30, 1973. Stevenson’s father, David Alan Stevenson, used to work as a lighthouse engineer and was related to Robert Louis Stevenson as a first cousin.I'm going to do something much, much cleverer," she repeated. "Anyone could write a book. I'm going to have a baby!" This is Book 2 in D.E. Stevenson's "Miss Buncle" Series and while it is not as brilliant as the unsurpassable Miss Buncle's Book, it is still awesome. Mr. Abbott could have cheated Miss Buncle quite easily if he had wanted to. Fortunately for her, he didn’t want to. It was not his way. You make friends with the goose and treat it decently, and it continues to lay golden eggs.

Miss Buncle is a not-so-young woman living alone (well, except for her maid, Dorcas, played for humor in that unconsciously classist way British writers of a certain era have of treating menials) in the village of her birth. Her money is drying up—as it is for many of her neighbors—and she has written a novel to rescue herself from poverty. Those of us who work in publishing might seriously question the sanity of anyone trying to escape poverty by writing a novel, but hey, it works for Miss Buncle. (As an aside, noting the different strategies pursued by the various characters to deal with money issues provides an excellent guide to the ethics D. E. Stevenson wishes us to embrace.)

The Miss Buncle Series in Order (3 Books)

How could she write of men as she did, with such true insight? She saw them naked (as it were), stripped of all their little subterfuges, their mannerisms, the coverings that they assumed to shield their inadequate souls from the world’s gaze. She saw them naked and calmly limned them so; not aware, in her kind, pleasant mind, that she was giving the show away. " The new scenery inevitably means a whole set of new characters and D.E. Stevenson's depiction of them is as accurate as it is delightfully entertaining. The way she just manages to sum them up, always hitting the proverbial nail (or a certain character) on the head in a few sentences is (again) fascinating. In their own ways and their own times, they all wrote about The Humdrum, The Mundane and The Commonplace without too much fuss and high drama, but with understanding, humour and pitch-perfect characterisation!

Barbara Buncle is very amusing to listen to although she doesn't realise it. The story portrays her as quiet, unassuming and oblivious to others in some ways and an acute observer in others which made an interesting mix. I enjoyed her many philosophical thoughts greatly, whilst listening to the vicar give a sermon she muses That's when inspiration strikes and Miss Barbara Buncle decides to write a book, all about Silversteam. Only, she can't possibly call it Silversteam, what would the residents say? Most would not like the way they are portrayed. So to solve that little dilemma she changes the name to Copperfield, and everyone's names along with it. I listened to the audiobook wonderfully read by Patricia Gallimore. She portrayed all the characters so well, from the sly Mrs. Greensleeves to the morose Mr. Bulmer and the haughty Mrs. Featherstone Hogg and so many more. In 1916, Stevenson married James Reid Peploe, a captain in the 6th Gurkha Rifles. [4] The Peploes had four children. [5] Her 1932 novel Mrs. Tim of the Regiment, which describes her life as a British army wife, [6] was based on her personal diary. [4]Because we should have to leave Wandlebury. We should have to leave The Archway House, and it would break my heart ... They would recognize themselves, and we should have to leave. And, even if they didn't, I should always be thinking that they were going to, and I should never have another peaceful moment. You've no idea what it was like at Silverstream -- the strain nearly wore me out.' "