Happy Furrowed Middlebrow Friday! 🥳🎉
This is my 4th out of 5 Dorothy Lambert books I've read in the past few months...yay! I can honestly say that I'm addicted.
I feel the same way about DL's novels that I do about D.E. Stevenson, Molly Clavering and Susan Scarlett. Generally, they're light, clever, fun-to-read, and have the perfect amount of tenderness and a romance (along with some nature description which varies by author.)
Dorothy Lambert's stories also add a hint of wackiness and chaos that I find hilarious (and a little thrilling!) lol.
Remember that you can pre-order these titles (available in both paperback and ebook) right now on Amazon! (US link) (UK Link)
RATING: 4🌟 War-time Whirlwind and Possible Wedding!
Staying Put takes place in the early days of WW2 in the small English village of Swansford. The reader follows the Falcon family (mostly Lavinia) as they readjust their lives in a new location and try to figure out what they can do to help the village (and themselves) once war is announced.
Woven into the themes of war preparation, finding jobs, village gossip and bickering, probability of bombings and possible spies, there is a thread (or two!) of romance between the inhabitants. (Whew—there's so much going on in this village-goes-to-war story!)
Here's a little bit about the characters and what I loved about this book:
MAIN CHARACTERS
❊ Lavinia Falcon (widow, loves to garden, comes back to Swansford to live at Beech Hill after her husband dies, has three adult children...see below)❊ Rowena Falcon (22, big, tall, blonde, efficient, know-it-all, looking for a wealthy husband, doing war work and acting superior)
❊ Richard Falcon (19, signed up to RAF, temporarily idle, a bit lazy, unmotivated, has a ravenous turtle named Peregrine who eats all of the garden lettuce)
❊ Felicity Falcon (17, youngest child, beautiful, flirty, curious, always ready for an adventure of any kind, has a family of teddy bear friends named the Blennerhassets)
❊ Lady Bulstrode (Lady of The Mallards, rich as anything, wants to control everyone...especially her son Ralph and strives to be seen as generous and supremely important in the little village)
❊ Ralph Thurston (runs the farm part of Mallards, deals with his mother Lady Bulstrode, desperately desires to fix Lavinia's lawn, reliable, practical and a good friend to all)
❊ Maureen Driscoll (Daughter of Mrs. Driscoll and sister to Michael. Went to school at the nearby convent and does exquisite embroidery work for them. Her mother makes her stay in a dark back room of the shop and discourages her from seeing anyone. She's lonely and anxious.)
❊ Michael Driscoll (Son of Mrs. Driscoll and brother to Maureen. Skillful, intelligent, cautious, courteous and private. He wants to do something more than fixing cars in the village. Frustrated and angry. Mother does not approve of him.)
WHAT I LOVED
💖 Dear Lavinia (Smart, down-to-earth, clever, and a good mother. She reminds me a little of D.E. Stevenson's Mrs. Tim character.)
💖 Sweet Maureen and her lovely nature and beautiful embroidery
💖 How Ralph helps the entire Falcon family in small, but significant ways throughout the book
💖 A little bit of a mystery that needs to be solved (re: the Driscolls)
💖 The short Christmas scene with Christmas at The Mallards with Lady Bulstrode, Ralph, Lavinia and Felicity. Ralph's gifts to his guests were very sweet.
WHAT FRUSTRATED ME THE MOST
❊ Why does Felicity act like she's 12 years old?? If I didn't know that she was at least 17 in this novel, I would have thought she was 12 or under by her words and actions. But, when you add in the flirting, it feels very confusing!
❊ Why does Lavinia have such a snobbish attitude towards Maureen and Michael Driscoll?
❊ Horrible, pig-headed, fanatic and mean-spirited Mrs. Driscoll (Irish owner of the corner shop and mother of Maureen and Michael)
❊ Mrs. Beckett (She's very similar to Miss Bates of Emma by Jane Austen (just not so gentle or kind) and is incredibly annoying in every way. Mother to Felicity's friend and co-worker, Julia. She's always going to visit Lavinia to vent (and not reciprocate.)
❊ Miss Dampier is so argumentative and makes things more difficult for all of the villagers, especially when it comes to Mrs. Beckett.
❊ A bit of an abrupt ending
💙 FAVORITE PASSAGES:
Felicity plunged in with a torch and looked round. "Heavens! What a mess! How absolutely thrilling! We've actually been bombed, Mummy! Isn't it marvelous? Absolutely!"
Rowena always knew about the right things and liked telling others.
Felicity was seventeen, blithe, inconsequent, lovely to look at, and promised to be an anxiety.
She was always good-tempered and easy to get on with, was clever and tactful in keeping the peace among the members of the various committees, and never asserted her own views too loudly. (Lavinia)
Nothing happened, but one expected something all the time. Everything went on perfectly normally, but nothing felt normal. War was nowhere and yet everywhere. And all the time it went on raining, growing more and more depressing.
After this particular introduction Bridget Twomey settled down at Beech Hill and became the prop and stay of the household.
Ada and Elsie discussed the situation that evening. "I declare," said Ada, "it's like living in a newsreel with all this excitement. Fancy the girl from the Corner Shop having her mother blown up. Some people do have luck."
Overall, I really enjoyed Staying Put. It's not quite as good as the other four Dorothy Lambert books I've read so far, but it's still pretty solid. I feel like this book might have too many unnecessary characters and a little less depth than the other titles.
Always a huge thanks and big hug to Victoria at Dean Street Press for sending along this book (and three other new Dorothy Lambert books) for me to read and review! DSP Furrowed Middlebrow books are the BEST! 🥰❤️🌟
Stay tuned for another Dorothy Lambert book review (and post on Instagram) next Friday—woo-hoo! 🥳🎉
Who is your favorite furrowed middlebrow author? Let me know in the comments!
Happy Friday! Have a wonderful weekend, friends! 💕🌸🤗🌸💕
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