Nightingale Wood

Introduced by Sophie Dahl'What luxury to stumble upon this quirky book, and the fascinating modern woman who wrote it. It is a rare unadulterated pleasure and high time for its encore' Sophie DahlLife is not quite a fairytale for Viola. Left penniless, the young widow is forced to live with her late husband's dour family in a joyless old house. There's Mr Wither, a tyrannical miser; Mrs Wither, who is certain that her son married beneath him; and two unlovely sisters-in-law - one of whom is secretly in love with the chauffeur. Only the prospect of the charity ball can raise Viola's spirits - especially as Victor Spring, the local Prince Charming will be there. But Victor's intentions toward our Cinderella are, in short, not quite honourable. 'Nightingale Wood. is very impressive. Gibbons is superb on middle class life in the years immediately before the Second World War, on the erosions of class division and ongoing snobbery. relying on icicle wit and sharp observation to lambast conventional morality. Gibbons also displays a tender side. There is real sadness in some of her characters, instead of deliberately heightened rural dolour - and it winds up as a love story that would please Jane Austen. I've loved every minute' Sam Jordison, Guardian.