Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
Flora Poste grew up believing that her family was wealthy, but when her parents died, she discovered that they were deeply in debt and that she had only a small annual income to live on. Flora decides to contact her relatives and get one of them to take her in. After receiving a mysterious response from her mother's cousin, she opts to go stay with her Starkadder relatives at Cold Comfort Farm in rural Sussex. When she arrives, Flora identifies several "projects" that need her attention and she settles in happily to fix things.
Such a fun read - slightly futuristic for the time since it refers to another world war even though it was published in the 1930's, and also a device the author calls a video-phone. Lot of quirky characters and a happy ending. This was the third book in my "read 12 classics this year" New Year's resolution. It was a good choice for reading during the current health crisis.
My family and I are all well during the COVID-19 pandemic, although I am still dealing with my back pain. I hope any readers are also safe and healthy. I have been reading a 750 page historical novel and just finished it today. Review to follow shortly.
Illinois has a shelter-in-place order originally until April 7, extended today until the end of April. The library remained open until March 21, and Chicago's mayor tried to get the library (and also the city parks) exempted from the "stay at home" order, insisting that the library should be classified as an essential service. She was actually encouraging the homeless and senior citizens to go to the library, and telling parents to drop their children off at the library while they went to work. They even had a plan worked out where the reference and clerical staff would have to continue working but the non-essential staff like the administration and departments like cataloging would be allowed to stay home. Fortunately, Illinois' governor included the library in the shelter-in-place order. I am the first person to say that libraries are important to their communities but it's not a vital or essential service.
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