
It seems a long time since I have read anything by Stella Gibbons. Best known of course for Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons was in fact a very prolific writer of novels short stories and poetry, she even wrote a children’s book. The Matchmaker was her eleventh novel – and it’s a fairly chunky one. There were moments when I felt the novel maybe could have been shorter – the narrative certainly slows down a little in places, but really that is a small thing. Overall, this was a novel that was a pleasure to spend time with – and what I really appreciated was that Stella Gibbons had the ability to surprise me – she doesn’t always go down exactly the route you think she will.
In the first early winter of peace, after the end of the Second World War, Alda Lucie-Brown and her three young daughters move to Pine Cottage in rural Sussex uprooted by the bombing of their family home near London. As the novel opens Alda’s husband Ronald arrives home on leave – and together they explore the little cottage that the family will move into in the following days. It’s far from ideal – and it is really a case of making do.
“Alda had been homeless for so long that she had almost ceased to grieve (or so she told herself) for the elegant homely double-fronted house in the old quarter of Ironborough which she and Ronald had been carefully, lovingly filling with furniture and books. Home, for her, was now wherever Ronald and the children and she herself could gather together in front of a fire or about a table…”
The cottage is quite remote, their nearest neighbours are the Hoadleys at Naylor’s farm, and just behind Pine cottage is a small chicken farm. With no car, and no bicycles, the youngest child just three years old getting out and about will become challenging for Alda as the winter takes hold. She is certainly used to a busier life – she’s also used to having her girls around her all day – with the move to Pine cottage, the older two girls, Jenny and Louise will be attending the convent school each day. She really needs something to do – something to liven up her life at Pine cottage.
Alda’s friend Jean arrives to stay following the death of her father. Jean is quite a wealthy woman having inherited her father’s business and having grown up in a well to do family. She is a kind, loyal friend, she adores Alda’s girls – for what Jean really wants – and has always wanted is a family of her own. At around thirty-two she is about the same age as Alda – they were friends at school. Her most recent romantic disappointment the latest in a long line. For fifteen years Alda has supported her friend through numerous trials and disappointments – offering advice whenever she can. Here, the reader begins to wonder whether Alda’s advice is always good. There is just a suggestion of the smug married here – Alda who married young for love – who could have had her pick – and went on to have three lovely daughters – surely, she must therefore be a dispenser of good, sound advice on matters of the heart. If you’re already thinking Emma Wodehouse – you’re not far from the mark.
Meanwhile, at Naylor’s farm the Hoadleys are helped on the farm by two Italian POWs – Emilio and Fabrio arrive each day from the camp. Emilio has a family back in Italy, a wife and children – Fabrio is unmarried though he sometimes gets letters from Maria who he hasn’t seen in years. Fabrio longs for his home in San Angelo. The two men struggle with their English and are viewed as lazy by Mr Hoadley. A young land-girl comes to the farm, Sylvia is eighteen, a communist with ambitions to go on the stage. Fabrio is shocked at her blowsy appearance as she strides around in trousers, her hair piled up on top of her head – she isn’t at all what he thinks of as a young lady. Sylvia is a bright, breezy breath of fresh air – and offers to teach Fabrio English.
“And Fabrio did not feel himself to be a slave. How should he? In that unbroken pride of youth which is so strong that the young man or woman who experiences it feels: I shall never die, and this warm sunny wind blows into my face while I stride against it like a lord of the earth, and then (if she is a girl) she moves her rounded neck to see her gold earrings reflected in the window of the car and feels her power, right down to the very tip of her eyelashes. Fabrio, too, was still sustained by his former close contact with the earth and the sea, though month by month, as the life of the camp held him fast, the refreshing force declined in strength.”
At the chicken farm Mr Wait leads a rather lonely life – he is a good looking man – Alda soon discovers, though very old fashioned in his views. However, old fashioned opinions aside, he is soon revealed to be a very kind man. Alda and the girls make his acquaintance soon after moving in, but with the arrival of Jean the two households begin to have more and more to do with each other.
Alda is soon on full interfering alert – she decides that Mr Wait will do perfectly well for Jean, and silly little Sylvia really could do a lot worse than marry Fabrio. The trouble is Alda makes really rather too many assumptions about people – and thinks she knows what is best for them. If that isn’t enough, Jean’s last romantic entanglement – hearing of her father’s death – comes looking for her.
Not quite everything is tidied up neatly – just like life – which I rather liked – and Stella Gibbons really allows her characters to be flawed. There are no road to Damascus moments with people suddenly realising the errors of their ways and swearing to do better – something else that never happens in life. Alda is annoying – Mr Wait needs to be brought up to date, and Sylvia can be stubborn and selfish. Some hearts get terribly bruised thanks to Alda’s interference – but the ending is something of a joy – but perhaps not the one many readers would be expecting.
I have to admit the only Gibbons I’ve read is Cold Comfort Farm but you have made this one sound inviting despite its chunkiness.
Yes, I have read Cold Comfort Farm twice, but it’s such a well known novel that perhaps her other books get forgotten about. Her novels are definitely engaging.
This is a new one to me but sounds like one I should read.
I don’t think a lot of her books are particularly well known. I would recommend this one and others.
I’ve never read Gibbons but she’s been on my radar for ages!
Cold Comfort Farm of course is the best known, though in some ways its unlike the others of hers I have read. She is definitely worth seeking out.
Like many others, I know I must have read CCF as a youngster, but as it’s one of those books that has seeped into the cultural consciousness, I can’t be entirely sure! This sounds like a most enjoyable read, a good one for a lazy Sunday afternoon or two.
It’s a good one for relaxing weekend reading yes, Stella Gibbons is an engaging writer, and there is always quite a lot going on in her books.
I loved CCF, though I’ve only ever moved on from that to her short stories, which *were* good. Alda sounds suitably annoying but it’s lovely that the book had an ending that surprised you!
Yes, I read one collection of her short stories, Christmas at Cold Comfort Farm which was good. I liked the fact that Gibbons doesn’t wrap everything up in the usual predictable way.
Like everyone else, I loved CCF but haven’t read any of Gibbons’ other many novels, so she’s long held an honored place on my “to be explored” further list. I did try Westwood but the timing was wrong; I picked it up immediately after CCF, expeced CCF and was quite unfairly disappointed to find that it was quite a different book. Your review makes a strong case for The Matchmaker, so I’ll probably go to either that or Nightingale Woods for my next Gibbons foray. (in case you’re interested, The Guardian did a very nice little overview of Gibbons’ work a few years back: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/dec/27/cold-comfort-farm-stella-gibbons-novels-reading-group )
I seem to remember seeing mixed reports of Westwood, I have a copy but haven’t yet read it. I liked Nightingale Wood, but two of my favourites were Starlight and The Bachelor.
l I too loved CCF and I was sold on this as soon as I saw the cover!
Oh I agree, the cover is lovely. I think it’s a combination of great shoes and chickens. 😊
I read this several years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. Haven’t read one of her books yet I didn’t like.
I have liked everything I have read by her so far. Two favourites are Starlight and The Bachelor.
This does sound a good one, I’ve read a few of hers as you know and there are always good and surprising characters. I do like the theme of resettling after WW2, seem to have read a few on that theme recently!
I really like that just after WW2 setting, such a unique time. I ‘ve read several books from that period too.
I love Stella Gibbons and have tracked down all of her books over the years. This is one of her best and I feel inspired to re-read it. The biography of Gibbons, Out of the Woodshed, by her nephew Reggie Oliver is well worth reading too.
Ooh I didn’t know about that biography, thanks for the recommendation.
This sounds lovely and it is one I shall look out for as well as the biography of her. I have my mother’s old copy of My American which I enjoyed and recommend too.
The American sounds like another good one. Thanks for the recommendation.
Stella Gibbons’ novels other than CCF are so underrated! The best I’ve read are Westwood, My American, The Matchmaker, The Bachelor.
I loved The Bachelor, so glad you rate Westwood as I have that tbr, The American does sound good.
I’ve also read The Charmers, Nightingale Wood, The Rich House, Here Be Dragons, Starlight and Bassett!
I have so many of her books and haven’t read all that many! I have found that her pacing goes a bit off in her non-CCF novels, but glad it sounds like this one is worth reading.
This is certainly worth reading, though I did wonder if it wasn’t a bit long. It may have benefited from a little edit. That might just be me though.
I like it when you review books I already have waiting for me to read, and I’ll look forward to this one. My favorite Gibbons so far is Westwood and I have several yet to be read.
Glad you have The Matchmaker waiting to read. I have Westwood on my shelf too.
I really love Cold Comfort Farm, so I really should read more by Gibbons.
I think CCF is probably a bit different to her other books, maybe why it has stood the test of time. I recommend her though.
I’ve never read anything by Gibbons – no not even Cold Comfort Farm. You make this one so appealing though and that cover art is wonderful.
Stella Gibbons’ novels really are very engaging. Cold Comfort Farm is actually rather different in some ways, and it’s probably those little differences which made it so popular and well known.
I shall add to the list
Excellent. 😊
I keep telling myself I will read Cold Comfort Farm but it hasn’t happened yet. This one sounds like an excellent read.
Cold Comfort Farm is excellent, I definitely recommend it. I have enjoyed all the books by Stella Gibbons that I have read so far.
I discovered my Gibbons collection the other day and resolved to read some ore and actually review it – I have read CCF about three times and some of the others, so I will see which one is which. I have definitely enjoyed all that I have read. Thanks for reminding me of them!
I hope you enjoy getting re-acquainted with Stella Gibbons. 😊
I sought out a copy of this book after reading your review and have just finished it. What a perfect pandemic read it proved! I adore books set in the middle of the 20th century featuring relatively low key events and I also enjoy books more if I have some sense of the area in which the action takes place. This book met both tests (& brought back a memory of my 25th wedding anniversary, celebrated with 3 nights in Amberley castle). It was very much a book to be enjoyed for the journey – the plot is slight; it is the setting and characters who make it. I started off liking Alda then began to realise how unwittingly she was manipulated and even damaging the lives of those around her. I had not realised how long it was before Italian PoWs were able to return home so that aspect was of interest in itself. Thank you so much for recommending this book. I am going to look for some of her other novels now (like many people I only knew her through Cold Comfort Farm).
So glad you enjoyed this one. It is perfect reading for these times. I don’t think I realised how long POWs were in the country after the war either.
Sometimes I wonder if the novels of this vintage, the ones which are a little loose and baggy, would have seemed so if they’d been read over a few weeks’ time rather than a few days time. When chores took so much longer and there were fewer household conveniences with which to complete things efficiently, I suppose women would have had very little time to sit and read comparatively speaking. Maybe we wouldn’t notice this unevenness if we weren’t reading in such a concentrated fashion.
Ah you might be right, women in the 40s probably did have less reading time, and may have spent longer on the book.