{"product_id":"miss-buncles-book","title":"Miss Buncle’s Book","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"std\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-caption full-width\"\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0278\/7642\/5795\/files\/SFK_CCM_R_1977_13.jpg?v=1593110680\u0026amp;width=700\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePREFACE BY ALINE TEMPLETON\u003cbr\u003e352pp\u003cbr\u003eISBN 9781903155714\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe storyline of \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eMiss Buncle's Book\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e (1934) is a simple one: Barbara Buncle, who is unmarried and perhaps in her late 30s, lives in a small village and writes a novel about it in order to try and supplement her meagre income. In this respect she is at one with Miss Pettigrew and Miss Ranskill, two other unmarried women who, not having subsumed their existence into that of a man, have to find a way of looking after themselves. There are some serious moments, for example when the doctor’s children are, very briefly, kidnapped (as a way of trying to force their mother to admit that she wrote the book; which she did not). But the seriousness is minimal – mostly this is an entirely light-hearted, easy read, one of those books like \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eMariana\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Making of a Marchioness\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e and\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e Greenery Street\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e which can be recommended unreservedly to anyone looking for something undemanding, fun and absorbing that is also well-written and intelligent.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDE Stevenson had an enormously successful writing career: between 1923 and 1970, four million copies of her books were sold in Britain and three million in the States. Like EF Benson, Ann Bridge, O Douglas or Dorothy L Sayers (to name but a few) her books are funny, intensely readable, engaging and dependable. \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eMiss Buncle’s Book\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e was the most popular of her novels because it has a completely original plot and a charming and delightful central character.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere is another reason for DE Stevenson’s appeal, as Aline Templeton points out in her Preface to the book: ‘Oscar Wilde’s Miss Prism, asked about her lost three-volume novel, explained, “The good ended happily and the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means.” Perhaps part of the attraction is that in DE Stevenson’s novels these rules comfortingly still apply.’ \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlso available as a Persephone Classic and a Persephone e-book and Persephone Books publishes the two sequels to \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMiss Buncle's Book\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e as well: \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMiss Buncle Married \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003eand \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Two Mrs Abbotts\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEndpaper\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"endpaper-caption\"\u003e'Flower vase lit by rays from a table lamp', a screen-printed cotton and rayon designed by Vanessa Bell for Allan Walton Textiles in 1934 (V\u0026amp;A Museum). This is the kind of fabric Miss Buncle might have bought with earnings from her novel; and her home would have contained several flower vases and table lamps. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"endpaper-caption\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePicture Caption\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"endpaper-caption\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Felixstowe to Ipswich \u003c\/em\u003e. 1940 by Russell Sidney Reeve (1895-1970) © Ipswich Borough Council Museum and Gallery\/PCF\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"DE Stevenson","offers":[{"title":"None","offer_id":54098781077811,"sku":"nvo1789694612023","price":25.2,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Tissue\/Endpaper","offer_id":54098781110579,"sku":"jpu1789694612024","price":36.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Cambridge Imprint paper","offer_id":54098781143347,"sku":"bka1789694612025","price":39.27,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Reusable fabric napkin","offer_id":54098781176115,"sku":"ott1789694612026","price":43.55,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0989\/0578\/4627\/files\/miss-buncles-book_1.jpg?v=1789694639","url":"https:\/\/sandstepclad.shop\/products\/miss-buncles-book","provider":"My Store","version":"1.0","type":"link"}