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Firstly I want to say - just look at the cover of this edition! Light, effervescent, wonderful colour palette - would have one expecting something Woodhousian, wouldn't one? Which this book really isn't, even though there are flashes of humour. What this book is is a study of the British Class Sy

I loved Cold Comfort Farm , Gibbons' debut novel (the film is also wonderful, if you haven't seen it), so I was excited to hear about this book - I never thought to look into it but Gibbons wrote quite a few novels in her day; this is her ninth. And, written and set prior to the outbreak of WWII, it Leggi tutto

(this review refers to the audiobook version.) oh what fun! like jane austen with icky people. this book tends toward a dim view of the human race, which is quite fine with me. there's the father-in-law, who wants only to get his paws on other people's money. his low-wattage wife, who must have never Leggi tutto

A very funny, very smart novel about upper-middle-class life in late 1930's England. Two families, separated by a woodland where The Hermit, the town drunk and squatter lives, come together in unlikely ways when Viola, the Withers' widowed daughter-in-law, arrives and chaos starts brewing. Lots of w Leggi tutto

Most people know Stella Gibbons only from her brief first novel, Cold Comfort Farm, a book I have several times started but could never finish. So I began Nightingale Wood in a doubtful spirit. That didn’t last long. This is a very accomplished social comedy set in the mid-1930s. It centers on Viola Leggi tutto

There is nothing like something nasty for bringing people together He supposed that he wanted her so much that it was making him fond of her; I am fascinated by Stella Gibbons' style of narrating and seeing people. She wasn't polite or nice to her characters. Sometimes she was simply harsh. So

Nightingale Wood is a really delightful Cinderella type tale from the author who of course is better known for having brought us Cold Comfort Farm. However I think that the novel is a little deceptive, it is not as light as it may appear, and there is a complexity and poignancy to it that is especia Leggi tutto

Another lovely book with some great characters. A fairytale of a book, a very happy read.

4 Stars Lovely and fun!

I read this book when on a Stella Gibbons kick, after reading Cold Comfort Farm. She's a really interesting figure to me, Gibbons, because she wrote SO much, but is pretty much only known for Cold Comfort Farm, which is, of course, delightful. But she was a prolific writer, and just jumped all over