Reading the 20th Century discussion

A number of books by Scottish author D.E. Stevenson have come back into print over the last few years, but there are still some that are hard to get hold of, so it is great news that Furrowed Middlebrow plan to republish her Mrs Tim series in January.

To celebrate, here's a thread to discuss this much-loved writer, who has a gently humorous style - her books are not exactly romances or family sagas, but do have elements of both.

Which books by D.E. Stevenson have you read, and which are your favourites?

My favourite so far is Amberwell, a Scottish family story (I suppose this one really is a saga!) set around a country house in the Scottish borders before, during and after World War Two. I absolutely loved this and had to get hold of the sequel, Summerhills - this is out of print except as an audiobook, so I listened to it on Audible, and must say that Lesley Mackie read it beautifully. Will have a look now to see what else I've read by Stevenson.

I have enjoyed the books of hers I've read so far. My favourite was Miss Buncle's Book which I read recently and loved. I have also read some of the ones published by Endeavour, who release Katherine Wentworth in a couple of days. Otherwise her books tend to be very difficult to find, although I did recently pick up The Musgraves for 50p in a charity shop.
Her books tend to be light and frothy and rather good for Sunday afternoon reading.

I loved Amberwell too. Second favourite so far, I've not read Summerhills yet. I enjoyed Vittoria Cottage too. When I went to read the sequels, they were no longer available.

I’ve read Miss Buncle’s Book and The Four Graces. I have Miss Buncle Married, The Two Mrs Abbotts, and The Young Clementina, too. I liked Miss Buncle, but should read it again; I don’t think I was in the right mood for it the first time, and I want to reread it before continuing her story. I really enjoyed The Four Graces though; it was really sweet. I have a few others on my wish list (Sourcebooks has put out a number of them!), so we’ll see if I get to them eventually. :)

Ooh, I haven't read any of the ones you mention, Tania and Bronwyn. Just looked up, and the other ones I've read are:

Still Glides the Stream, which I picked up secondhand - GR says this is 'Ayrton Family 3', but in fact a couple of members of the family from Amberwell only put in a brief appearance and don't really add much to those two books! Quite enjoyed this but not as much as the previous two.

Anna and Her Daughters - I enjoyed this one which is on Kindle Unlimited, tale of a three very different sisters and their mother. (I nearly said two, clearly one of the sisters is quite forgettable!)

Mrs Tim Of The Regiment - I remember finding this quite enjoyable but less good than her others, wasn't too mad on her use of the diary format, I think. However, I am still keen to read the sequels when they come out - possibly I was just not in the right mood for the first one at the time.

Tania wrote: I enjoyed Vittoria Cottage too. When I went to read the sequels, they were no longer available."

I hate it when that happens! Vittoria Cottage was on Kindle - I think it was even on Kindle Unlimited - but it is now "not currently available for purchase."

Yes, I had planned to read the sequels on kindle unlimited, but they disappeared.

Wonder why that is? New editions being prepared or just one of those strange things? This is a disadvantage of Kindle, as, in theory anyway, paper books can't just disappear off my shelves.

I don't know. I could find no explanation. I have seen books no longer available on KU, but these ones became no longer available at all on Kindle. Maybe I'll get lucky one day in a charity shop.

I have just read Katherine Wentworth, which was my Kindle Unlimited pick this month. I really enjoyed it, and gave it 4*. It is more of what I have come to expect from this author. Good for a bit of light escapism.

I'm so excited to note that a lot of D.E. Stevenson books have just appeared on Kindle, and many of them are on Kindle Unlimited! Summerhills, the sequel to Amberwell, is one of these - I had to listen to it on Audible (no hardship as it had a wonderful reader) but it is now on KU.

Others which are also newly available on KU include The Blue Sapphire, Bel Lamington and its sequel Fletchers End, Katherine Wentworth (which you mentioned above, Tania) and its sequel Katherine's Marriage and Sarah Morris Remembers and its sequel Sarah's Cottage. (No Vittoria Cottage sadly - but maybe that will reappear soon?)

There are also several lovely new editions on Kindle from Furrowed Middlebrow, which I think were mentioned in another thread a little while back? These are Spring Magic, Smouldering Fire, and three Mrs Tim books.

Exciting times for D.E. Stevenson fans. Thanks Judy.

I’m halfway through Sarah Morris Remembers and enjoying it a lot now that the heroine is grown up,

I plan to read this one soon. I have been using the Kindle Lenders Library to read the books of hers that are available.
I recently read Miss Buncle Married, which I really enjoyed. I think the Miss Buncle books are my favourite of hers that I have read so far.

I haven't tried Miss Buncle yet but definitely will do! I have now finished Sarah Morris Remembers and really enjoyed it except for the first few chapters where the heroine is a child, which are rather boring (and I loved the childhood bits in Amberwell!)

I do slightly wish though that so many of her books didn't have "selfish/spoilt sister" characters, who all seem to be rather too similar.

Love, love, love the Miss Buncle books. So far, they have been my favorite D.E. Stevenson novels as well. I haven't read the last in the series, The Four Graces, yet but my husband has and he felt it did not live up to the rest of the series. Has any one else read it?

I've just read Sarah's Cottage, the sequel to Sarah Morris Remembers, - I quite enjoyed it but it wasn't as good a story as the first book. The spoilt sister I was moaning about takes up too much space in this book for my liking!

Can anyone recommend books by Stevenson which don't have a saintly heroine running around after a spoilt sister? I love her writing style and most of her characters, but am getting a little bit fed up with this particular storyline!

I recently read Bel Lamington, She is an orphan, so no spoiled sister to run around after, and available on KU. My absolute favourite book by her is Miss Buncle's Book, (I think I mentioned this earlier). Again, she is on her own and finding that she needs to make money, writes a novel about her neighbours with very funny results. Being published by Persephone, it is a bit pricey, but perhaps you could ask your library to buy it. Mine is always good at getting books I ask for.

Thanks Tania, I will make one of those my next Stevenson. :)

I agree with Tania. Miss Buncle’s Book is my favorite D.E. Stevenson book. Hilarious

Tania wrote: "I loved Amberwell too. Second favourite so far, I've not read Summerhills yet. I enjoyed Vittoria Cottage too. When I went to read the sequels, they were no longer available."

As I mentioned in another thread, Furrowed Middlebrow are releasing some more titles in January. Vittoria Cottage and it's sequels will be among them.

Exciting that they are publishing more! Thanks, Tania.

I'm currently reading Bel Lamington and enjoying it a lot so far.

I've belatedly got on to the sequel to Bel Lamington, Fletchers End, and am enjoying it although I preferred the first book.

Has anyone read anything else by Stevenson lately? I find her the perfect comfort reading.

Yes, I'm reading Mrs Tim of the Regiment at the moment. I'd been wanting to read it for a while but second hand copies are about £70! For a paperback published ten years ago. Anyway, I got lucky and I'm really enjoying it.

Glad you are enjoying Mrs Tim of the Regiment, Tania - I borrowed it from the library a few years ago and quite enjoyed it but didn't like it as much as others by her that I've read.

When I just had a peek at Amazon, prices were £10.39 for the Bloomsbury paperback or £8.03 for the Kindle edition, so better than £70, but more than the Kindle prices for the later books in the series reprinted by Dean Street Press.

I finished Mrs Tim of the Regiment, yesterday and I did really enjoy it. I wonder how much of it was based on her own life. I will read on in the series, but probably slowly.
Miss Buncle's Book remains my favourite.

I will hope to get on and read more by Stevenson as I do enjoy her. I still haven't tried Miss Buncle's Book though I keep meaning to!

I also enjoy her Judy. A couple of years ago I read one a month, as I kept taking them out of the Kindle lending library, I realised I'd read too many too quickly; glad to get back to her though.

Tania wrote: "I also enjoy her Judy. A couple of years ago I read one a month, as I kept taking them out of the Kindle lending library, I realised I'd read too many too quickly; glad to get back to her though."

Sadly it looks as if the Kindle owners' lending library has been axed - I have cancelled my Kindle Unlimited sub for the time being, and thought I'd still be able to get one book a month from KOLL but it seems to have shut down.

I have plenty of books on my Kindle anyway though and am also currently using Scribd, so still have loads to read. I did notice that Scribd has Mrs Tim of the Regiment available, although no other Stevenson titles.

Oh, that was about the only thing I got around to using when I had Prime. Glad I ditched it now.

I can still borrow from Prime Reading but I'm not sure how good the selection for that is - I have some books I borrowed from it ages ago and haven't got round to reading them yet.

How many of D.E.Stevenson's books are set in Scotland?

I think a lot of them are at least partially set in Scotland, the ones I know of are the Amberwell books, Anna and Her Daughters Smouldering Fire and The House of the Deer, but I have probably missed many others.

A couple of others at least partly set in Scotland are Still Glides the Stream (best read after the Amberwell books as it includes a brief appearance by a few characters from those!), and Mrs Tim Of The Regiment.

Also, Sarah Morris Remembers is set in England, but the sequel, Sarah's Cottage, is set in Scotland. I enjoyed these two but the first book was better than the sequel.

Thanks to all who replied. I really loved Mrs Tim of the Regiment so I'm hoping to be able to read more of her books at some point.

I've had an email saying that Dean Street Press are reissuing 11 more Stevenson books in their Furrowed Middlebrow range.

Which of these would anyone recommend? Five will be paperback only because the ebooks have already been issued by other publishers, such as Anna and Her Daughters which I read a few years ago.

Here is a post about them on the Furrowed Middlebrow blog, with the cover art:
http://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.co...

DE Stevenson is certainly in demand by publishers! On top of Dean Street Press republishing lots of her titles, I've just had an email from Lume Books about her, spotlighting several of her books:
https://mailchi.mp/lumebooks/d_e_stev...
These are all currently 99p and also on KU - The Bel Lamington Novels: Bel Lamington / Fletcher's End, Five Windows, Sarah Morris (this contains Sarah Morris Remembers and Sarah's Cottage), The Empty World (this one is apparently a dystopian sci-fi romance!), Peter West and The English Air.

Thanks Judy. 'Tea or Books?' announced that their next podcast will compare Five Windows with Four Gardens so I'll pick it up and try to read it before the podcast, I've already read the latter.

I have not read a Ms. Stevenson book before but during an Amazon sale in December I purchased this copy of Miss Buncle's Book to read at some point in the future.

That one is my favourite by her Brian. I hope you enjoy it when you get to it.

Tania wrote: "That one is my favourite by her Brian. I hope you enjoy it when you get to it."

I thought it best to start with her most popular book and a first one in a series. I'll pick it up when I feel like something "light and frothy and rather good for Sunday afternoon reading." So definitely not until American football releases its stranglehold on my Sunday afternoons - which is mid-February.

Oh Miss Buncle is so much fun! I reread it last year and finally read the sequels and they’re really charming (though do go down in quality as they go on I think, but still fun).

Thanks again for the heads up on the kindle books, Judy! I didn’t get them all (though maybe I’ll go back for the last couple before the sale ends), but got Peter West, Sarah Morris, Five Windows, and The Empty World. :)

That's great, Bronwyn, hope you enjoy them all. :)

Brian, I still haven't read Miss Buncle's Book - I've been meaning to for ages! Must get to it soon.

I was in the mood for some Stevenson, so I've started listening to Celia's House, a Scottish family saga, on Audible - it's read by Lesley Mackie, who has a great voice. I enjoyed listening to her read Summerhills and I see she has also recorded quite a few others.