Nightingale Wood

by Stella Gibbons

Book Overview

A sly and satirical fairytale by the author of Cold Comfort Farm Unavailable for decades, Stella Gibbons's Nightingale Wood is a delightfully modern romance ripe for rediscovery by the many fans of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0143117572
• ISBN13: 9780143117575
• Release Date: April 2010
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 7.7"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

A pleasant humorous romance

I read this book because I have long loved "Cold Comfort" and was curious to see what else Ms Gibbons wrote. It is a romance, a story centrally concerned about the pairing off of men and women, which is a genre I've never really had much thirst for. I'm afraid that all the comments here comparing it to fairy tales and "The Tempest" left me half expecting some fantasy elements in the story, but though the comparisons are not inapt, it is not in that sense that they are meant. There is no fairy godmother in this Cinderella story. This is a story of fairly ordinary things happening to fairly ordinary people. It's also not a wild parody like "Cold Comfort." No legs fall off cows and the sukebind does not bloom. But there is plenty of quiet humor. Ms. Gibbons views every character, rich or poor, clever or (mostly) dimwitted, Capitalist or Communist, with a sharp critical eye, but somehow also finds something lovable about every single one. It's not a must-read classic like "Cold Comfort", but I liked it pretty well, and enjoyed seeing what kind of writer Stella Gibbons matured into.

I loved this book!

Viola is newly widowed when she's invited by her husband's family to come live with them in Sible Pelden. There's Mr. Wither, who's a fantastic bore; Mrs. Wither, who doesn't quite care for her new daughter-in-law (due to the fact that she's the daughter of a shop owner); and Tina and Madge, their middle-aged daughters who have never quite grown up and are waiting for something to happen to them. The story follows these characters and others over the course of a year, the highlight being a charity ball at which a local eligible bachelor named Victor Spring will be present. One of the things that Stella Gibbons is famous for was her sense of humor, and nowhere is this more apparent than in Nightingale Wood. Stella Gibbons's humor is a little more maniacally funny, but the characters and plot of this one never fail to be entertaining. There's a very surreal, Midsummer Night's Dream-esque feeling to this book--all kinds of people slipping away to the woods to conduct love affairs, licit and otherwise. So, often, this book reads like a fairy tale--a fairy tale with a twist, especially since the two Prince Charmings in this book doesn't always have the purest intentions... The characterizations in this novel are especially strong. Viola isn't quite what you'd expect from a woman who married someone twenty years older than she; but she's all the more interesting for that because there's so much more to her personality than meets the eye. Mr. Wither is, as described above, a frightful bore; Madge is a middle-aged woman who's never totally grown up (as seen in her childlike delight over her new dog Polo); and Tina is a woman just dying to be loved. Well, she gets her wish, but not in the way she expected... the only character I didn't tally love (for good and for worse) was Victor Spring, who was a bit stereotypical; and every time Saxon, the chauffer, appeared, I kept thinking of Thomas from Upstairs, Downstairs. Also, the plot moved a bit too quickly in some places. However, this is a well-written, funny novel; I actually found myself guffawing out loud in several places. This book is definitely worth a read if you enjoy this type of novel. I'm almost ashamed to admit that I haven't read Stella Gibbons's other, better-known book, Cold Comfort Farm; a problem that I should remedy as soon as possible.

Wiser, deeper, funnier book

Lovers of Stella Gibson's Cold Comfort Farm (her first novel), should know this is a wiser, deeper and funnier book. Using fairy tales and Shakespeare comedies as plot devices (The Tempest, A Mid-Summer's Night's Dream, Cinderella, Snow White and Red Rose....)and set in an Essex Village in 1938, it examines (punctures) the British class system and middle-class snobbery, anti-semitism and the totalitarian family system. The characters are funny, human and the writing is wonderful...and it ends as all comedies should in a marriage (or two) and paired sets of lovers...

totally out of print, totally worth reading...

I had to request this book through an out of state library because it is so rare, particularly here in the U.S. I hope it is put back into print because it is quite good. Maybe not as good as Cold Comfort Farm but anyone who likes Stella's masterpiece would probably enjoy this one. It basically follows her usual fairy tale format, with just a bit of Jane Austen thrown in and focuses on life in a small village and its upperclass residents (and some of its lower class ones). I won't go into the plot details as there is a fairly lengthy description on Ms. Gibbons' nephew's website. It would be difficult to convey the best part of the book, which is the biting humor, so you'll have to check it out for yourself, which I urge anyone who liked Cold Comfort Farm to do.