We try to find out what happened in the woodshed when we read Cold Comfort Farm.
Cold Comfort – the blurb
When sensible, sophisticated Flora Poste is orphaned at nineteen, she decides her only choice is to descend upon relatives in deepest Sussex. At the aptly-named Cold Comfort Farm, she meets the doomed Starkadders: cousin Judith, heaving with remorse for unspoken wickedness; Amos, preaching fire and damnation; their sons, lustful Seth and despairing Reuben; child of nature Elfine; and crazed old Aunt Ada Doom, who has kept to her bedroom for the last twenty years. But Flora loves nothing better than to organize other people. Armed with common sense and a strong will, she resolves to take each of the family in hand
Screamingly funny
My book club had a theme of ‘comedy’ this month which I really struggled with. I don’t normally read ‘funny’ books. I don’t normally watch ‘funny’ TV programmes. A helpful follower on Twitter suggested Cold Comfort Farm and it seemed like the perfect choice as a) I already had it on my TBR pile and b) it’s my grandma’s favorite book, a fact I only found out a few weeks back. There seems to be a lot of love in general for this classic (originally published in 1932) with Marian Keyes declaring it “screamingly funny”.
A happy glow
The whole book reminded me in a way of Nanny McPhee but with adults instead of children needing the sorting. The Nanny McPhee character, minus the tooth and wart, being Flora Poste (or Robert Poste’s child!) who is quite a woman. Meddlesome, match maker, independent, all of these fits the bill and more. Yet her meddling is always to bring about a better life for others, never herself which I really admired. Only once she had seen to it that everyone was happy did she bring about her own happy ending which left the reader with a happy glow.
Did I laugh?
I don’t think at any point I actually laughed out loud yet the writing was clearly humorous. Cows named Aimless and Pointless! There were also some wicked one liners “She liked Victorian novels. They were the only kind of novel you could read while you were eating an apple.” There is a surprising amount of sex in it, actually I take that back, of sexual references mostly from Mr Mybug ‘those rhododendron buds had a phallic, urgent look!’ I can imagine it would make a wonderful film and wish there was a version older than the 1996 Kate Beckinsale one. I love a golden oldie.
Did the goat die?
For those interested there are a few spin offs. You never know, Christmas at Cold Comfort could well be this years Christmas book club. After all as Gibbons wisely declares, there will always be Starkadders at Cold Comfort, and so there should be. But just what exactly did happen in the woodshed?
