There are some authors I think of as ‘break glass in case of emergency’ authors. And I didn’t have a particular emergency the other day, only nothing I was picking up felt right. I had a few books on the go, but wasn’t in the mood for any of them. So… I went to my Wodehouse shelves.
As he was so prolific, and copies of his books abound cheaply, I have an awful lot of unread Wodehouse books. I picked Uneasy Money (1917) off the shelves more or less at random – and had a lovely time. I could write down almost any sentence from a Wodehouse novel as an example of his mastery of language – this is from the second page, as our hero Lord Dawlish is approached by someone asking for money.
For some minutes he had been eyeing his lordship appraisingly from the edge of the kerb, and now, secure in the fact that there seemed to be no policeman in the immediate vicinity, he anchored himself in front of him and observed that he had a wife and four children at home, all starving.
Lord Dawlish ‘has always looked on himself as rather a chump – well-meaning, perhaps, but an awful ass’, and he is accurate in that. Of course he is; he is a Wodehouse hero and they’re almost all like that. Being well-meaning, he gives the man some money – but appearances are deceptive. He might be a Lord, but he doesn’t have much money. He earns an income as a secretary at a club, though this is really pity money, and otherwise is stony broke. Much to the chagrin of Claire, his fiancée, who refuses to marry him unless he gets a better income.
It’s always relatively clear in a Wodehouse novel which characters are to be cheered on and which to be disliked, and Claire is in the latter camp. She is fixated on money, rigidly unkind to our Lord Dawlish, and we never for a moment dream that they will end up together. Though they do end up both heading off to America, unbeknownst to each other. Lord Dawlish is informed that anybody can make millions in the Land of the Free, while Claire goes to visit a friend (and also with her eyes set on a rich middle-aged bachelor whom she knows is travelling by boat at the same time).
All is set up for a fun plot – which gets all the more fun when Lord Dawlish learns he has inherited a million dollars from an old man whom he once helped with his golf swing. He is chuffed – but also horrified that thus is disinherited the old man’s nephew and (more to the point) niece. He somewhat disregards the nephew, but writes to the niece (Elizabeth) to offer her half the money. She, however, refuses. And Lord Dawlish makes it his mission to find Elizabeth and persuade her to take the money – albeit, for reason, under an alias.
The plot is as brilliantly worked and completely unlikely as any Wodehouse novel, and the characters come alive with his trademark vivacity and vim. I loved the whole lot of them, even the ones we weren’t meant to like. But the star of the show is, of course, Wodehouse’s writing. His mix of exaggeration and understatement is always brilliant; his pithy descriptions of people (‘his appearance was that of a bewildered drainpipe’) are always a delight.
As I’ve often said, and others have too, if Wodehouse had written a handful of novels, they’d all be classics we learn by heart. Because he was so prolific, and so consistently good, there aren’t many that are individually well-known. He is a victim of his own brilliance. But Uneasy Money is certainly up there with his most enjoyable of the 20 or so I’ve read, and now I’m going to have to work hard not to just chain-read Wodehouse for months…
I love Wodehouse … he has little series of a sort in the midst of his vast output … I have all (and have read them many times) of his books about The Empress of Blandings … an empress you wonder … she is a fine, prize winning pig & what competitors in country contests do to prevent her showing make one laugh out loud …
Yes, I’ve enjoyed some of that series too!
I have always wanted to read a Wodehouse but am overwhelmed with choice. Can all the books be read as stand alones or do they need to be read in a specific order, particularly in regards to the Jeeves books?
Good question – there are a few series (Jeeves, Psmith, Ukridge, Blandings) and there is a little bit of plot progression between them, but I’d argue that you could easily read them in any order and not really notice. Besides his very early books, I don’t think you can go far wrong with picking any at random, tbh!
I agree that you could pretty much start anywhere, aside from the earliest, but for the series I’d suggest these:
Psmith: Psmith, Journalist
Blandings: Summer Lightning
Jeeves and Wooster: Carry On, Jeeves
Another good way to dive in would be a collection such as Blandings Castle and Elsewhere or Plum Pie.
Thank you for the suggestions! Much appreciated.
Leave it to Psmith. Total bliss.
I’m am slowly working my way through the 99 books…a day without Wodehouse feels like a day without sunshine. I love the mix of exaggeration and understatement, brilliant! Dialogue is fast paced and masterfully done. There is never a word or sentence that isn’t perfectly placed. I’ve often asked myself, ‘how does he do it?’…genius, of course.
It sounds like just the right book for these days of high stress! A true escape read.
Absolutely!
I am a PG fanatic and have an excellent collection of first editions And others. The Empress of Blandings is one of m favorites. And tonight I will cuddle up with Uneasy Money
I agree on there being too many to pinpoint a few classics, but they are mostly all great fun. I’m terrible with keeping the names straight and always mix them up. This if I remember right is the one with the bee farm?
In the Persephone Books Letter, June 2022:
It seems that Sheffield Hallam University is abandoning its English Literature degree. This is especially sad for us at Persephone Books as we have been looking round for a university to which to donate our collection of books by (mostly) twentieth century women writers – a couple of thousand books. Since Sheffield Hallam has been pioneering in hosting conferences about ‘middlebrow’ fiction (cf. this piece by Erica Brown) we had wondered if they might have space for the Persephone collection. Alas that door has apparently closed.
I wonder if you would be able to help?
I’m the same with Christie or any Golden Age Crime really – always my go-to if I struggle with reading. Having said that, I read tons of Wodehouse back in the day and absolutely loved him, so maybe I should dig our some Bertie again!
I’ve only read one Wodehouse but thoroughly enjoyed it and am looking forward to reading more, I love your description of a ‘break glass in case of emergency’ book. I’ll have to think who mine is!
I haven’t read him for years but somehow you always know he’s THERE if you need him, don’t you. My break-glass books are a pile of Three Investigators mysteries.
I have been reading a lot of Wodehouse the last couple of years, no surprise. I’ve just started Pigs Have Wings from the Blandings series on audio and they are always reliable. It’s wonderful that he was so prolific because they are a welcome delight.
I have a much read and reread collection of PGW, though I have to say in late years they have been just adorning my shelves.
It’s summer. My deck calls. Time to pull Uneasy Money down from the shelves.
I just checked my Books Owned Spreadsheet: 46. Plus memoirs. As Liz said above, you always know he’s there when you need him.
I’m currently on a Wodehouse binge – I’ve read 22 this year so far. I started listening to the Blandings series on Audio last year and early this year I got to a book I couldn’t get in Canada on audio, but I found a hard copy at my local second hand bookstore, and enjoyed it so much that I couldn’t go back to audio, so I bought out the bookstore’s stash of Wodehouse and am having great fun reading my way through them all (with breaks for other books.) I’m currently reading Pearls, Girls and Monty Bodkin. Uneasy Money isn’t one I have on my shelves, but I think I will need to add it soon!
This one sounds so fun! I’ve never heard of it. I’ve almost always got a PGW on audio that I listen to in snatches here and there when I need a pick-me-up (though not one of Jeeves’).
Well said. I wonder if I could be permitted to reblog this juicy piece on my blog site ashokbhatia.wordpress.com, with due credit, of course. Pip pip!