There Have Always Been Starkadders

There are times when I embarrass myself, and this will be one of those times. I had no idea this story was a book, just thought it was a thoroughly enjoyable movie with Kate Beckinsdale before she started killing vampires or whatever it is she does these days. So imagine my surprise and pleasure a few months ago when Amazon had a Kindle deal on this book. I snatched it up right away and read it also right away (you have no idea how far behind I am on reviews). Anyhoo, I enjoyed the book just as much as the movie, which was a relief (I know, the book is pretty much always better, but you never know).

Poor Flora Poste has been recently orphaned, but her parents didn’t leave enough money for her to continue in her comfortable lifestyle. Her friend Mary Smiling (who has an interesting hobby) tells Flora that she’s going to have to get a job. But Flora has other ideas. She’s going to write to all of her distant relatives, and decide which one gets her as a non-paying tenant. She decides to move to Cold Comfort Farm (as the best of a bad lot) and shack up with the Starkadders.

The Starkadders live up to their name, as does the seldom-see matriarch Ada Doom. Ada “saw something nasty in the woodshed” once, and hasn’t been the same since. And everyone calls Flora “Robert Poste’s child” and seems to be trying to make up for some unspecific something from the past.

Flora decides she needs to fix everyone using modern methods and her book The Higher Common Sense. By the time she’s done with them, everyone has what they want or need (sometimes both), and she has saved the Starkadders from themselves. The story is light and light-hearted, and if you have any kind of interest in literature from this time period, please do yourself a favor and read the book. And watch the movie, if you haven’t already.