Miss Plum and Miss Penny, set in a 1950s English village

 

This book is a delightful novel, so interesting that you may read it quickly, as I did. Such turmoil in a small quiet English village in the 1950s. Some bachelors and the unmarried Miss Penny lead a life of quiet pleasures, of ice skating and sharing tea, when Miss Plum bursts on the scene. She is a complete mystery and Miss Penny saves her from drowning in a pond and takes her home to recover. Miss Plum was trying to drown herself, she had lost the will to live. Miss Plum is rather young, apparently has no talents, no money, no family, and Miss Penny finds her a tedious house guest and can’t get her to leave. There is a possible air of menace around Miss Plum. Is she as clueless as she seems?

In addition there are potential love interests for Miss Penny, including a young man she loved 20 years ago, although the local bachelors find Miss Plum intriguing at first. Miss Penny is taking the occasion of turning 40 to consider her life, past and what she would like in the future. A fun tale. 

This book is brought back to print and Kindle by Furrowed Middlebrow Publishers, and they have a good list of novels from the 1930s, 40s and 50s. I am deciding which of their books to buy next, lots of them look great. I already purchased two: Vittoria Cottage by D.E. Stevenson and Family Ties by Celia Buckmaster.