Jonathan Cecil
P.G. Wodehouse earned a well-deserved reputation as one of the finest English prose stylists. In this collection of stories, Wodehouse introduces us to Jeeves, one of the author's most beloved fictional characters. If you could do with a good laugh, this hilarious collection will definitely do the trick.
"P.G. Wodehouse is still the funniest writer ever to have put words on paper." —Hugh Laurie
Ronald Psmith ("the 'p' is silent, as in pshrimp") is always willing to help a damsel in distress. So when he sees Eve Halliday without an umbrella during a downpour, he nobly offers her an umbrella, even though it's one he picks out of the Drone Club's umbrella rack. Psmith is so besotted with Eve that, when Lord Emsworth,
..."To dive into a Wodehouse novel is to swim in some of the most elegantly turned phrases in the English language."—Ben Schott
Follow the adventures of Bertie Wooster and his gentleman's gentleman, Jeeves, in this stunning new edition of one of the greatest comic short story collections in the English language. This classic collection of linked stories feature some of the funniest episodes in the life of Bertie Wooster,...Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge has hit upon a foolproof plan to get rich quick: he's starting a chicken farm. Dragging his adoring wife Millie and his long-suffering friend and novelist Jeremy Garnet with him to Dorset, he begins his enterprise. Complications ensue, involving the taciturn Hired Man and his bumptious dog, supercilious chickens, irascible professors, angry creditors, and divided lovers.
On doctor's orders, Bertie Wooster retires to sample the bucolic delights of Maiden Eggesford. But his idyll is rudely shattered by Aunt Dahlia who wants him to nobble a racehorse. Similar blots on Bertie's horizon come in the shape of Major Plank, the African explorer, Vanessa Cook, proud beauty and "molder of men," and Orlo Porter who seems to have nothing else to do but think of sundering Bertie's head from his body.
When Bertie Wooster goes to stay with his Aunt Dahlia at Brinkley Court and unexpectedly becomes engaged to the imperious Lady Florence Craye, disaster threatens from all sides.
While Florence tries to cultivate Bertie's mind, her former fiancé, hefty ex-policeman "Stilton" Cheesewright, threatens to beat his body to a pulp, and her new admirer, the bleating poet Percy Gorringe, tries to borrow a thousand pounds.
To cap it all, there's
...12) Cocktail time
If Lord Ickenham had not succumbed to the temptation to dislodge the hat of Beefy Bastable, the irascible QC, with a well-aimed Brazil nut, the latter's famous legal mind might never have been stimulated to literature. But the incident provoked Beefy to write his exposé of the younger generation, a novel so shocking that it caused endless repercussions for its hapless author, and sparked off a whole series of outrageous misunderstandings that
...Wodehouse dishes up non-stop hilarity in this classic quagmire featuring birdbrained Bertie Wooster and his astute butler, Reginald Jeeves. When Gussie Fink-Nottle lands in the slammer, Bertie poses as his pal in order to keep Madeline Bassett at bay. After all, no one knows Bertie at Deverill Hall. Corky's dog, covert couples, five crackpot aunts, and a concert in costume increase the confusion. Captain Dobbs descends on Deverill to arrest a greenbearded
...14) Something fresh
Welcome to Blandings Castle, a place that is never itself without an imposter.
Wodehouse himself once noted that "Blandings has impostors like other houses have mice." On this particular occasion there are two, both intent on a dangerous enterprise. Lord Emsworth's secretary, the Efficient Baxter, is on the alert and determined to discover what is afoot—despite the distractions caused by the Honorable Freddie Threepwood's hapless affair
...Uncle Fred, or to give him his full title of Frederick Altamont Cornwallis Twistleton, fifth Earl of Ickenham, is considered by some as a splendid gentleman—a sportsman to his fingertips. Mr. Twistleton, nephew to the Earl, and otherwise known as Pongo to his friends, has a differing view. He simply describes his uncle as being loopy to the tonsils. But when the eccentric and well-loved Uncle Fred plays Cupid to Lord Emsworth, his old friend
...The peaceful slumber of the Worcester village of Rudge-in-the-Vale is about to be rudely disrupted. First there is a bitter feud between peppery Colonel Wyvern and the Squire of Rudge Hall, rich but miserly Lester Carmody. Second, that archvillain Chimp Twist has opened a health farm, and he and Soapy and Dolly Molloy are planning a fake burglary so Lester can diddle his insurance company. After the knockout drops are served, things get a little
...17) Hot Water
At the house party at Chateau Blissac, Brittany features a rather odd array of guests this year.
Mr. J. Wellington Gedge is hoping for some peace and quiet while his wife takes herself off for a while. She, however, has invited numerous visitors to the chateau, to whom he will have to play reluctant host. Senator Opal and his daughter are expected, and so is the chateau's handsome owner Vicomte de Blissac.
When a certain letter goes
...20) Big money
Most of the big money belongs to Torquil Paterson Frisby, the dyspeptic American millionaire—but that doesn't stop him wanting more out of it. His niece, the beautiful Ann Moon, is engaged to "Biscuit," Lord Biskerton, who doesn't have very much of the stuff and so he has to escape to Valley Fields to hide from his creditors. Meanwhile, his old school friend Berry Conway, who is working for Frisby, himself falls for Ann—just as Biscuit
...