Product Description

P.G. Wodehouse entices us into the demesne of Blandings Castle - an apparent paradise where it is eternal high summer, with jolly parties, tea on the lawn and love trysts in the rose garden. But for Clarence, ninth Earl of Emsworth, there is always something to disturb this tranquil scene.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #279510 in Books
• Published on: 1981-09-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 608 pages

From the Back Cover
A
Blandings
Omnibus

In this wonderfully fat omnibus, which seems to span the dimensions of the Empress of Blandings herself (the fattest pig in Shropshire and surely all England), the whole world of Blandings Castle is spread out for our delectation: the engagingly dotty Lord Emsworth and his enterprising brother Galahad, his terrifying sister Lady Constance, Beach the butler (his voice ‘like tawny port made audible’), James Wellbeloved, the gifted but not always sober pigman, and Lord Emsworth’s secretary the Efficient Baxter, with gleaming spectacles, whose attempts to bring order to the Castle always end in disarray.

Lurking in the wings is Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe of Matchingham Hall, the neighbour with designs on the Prize which must surely belong to the Empress.

As Evelyn Waugh wrote, ‘The gardens of Blandings Castle are that original garden from which we are all exiled.’

About the Author
PG Wodehouse was born in Guildford, Surrey, in 1881 and educated at Dulwich College. He was created a Knight of the British Empire in 1975 and died on St. Valentine's Day in the same year at the age of ninety-three. His novels are translated into every language and are frequently adapted for radio and television. In Jeeves and Wooster he created two of the best known and best loved characters in twentieth century literature.

Customer Reviews

Great introduction to P.G. Wodehouse
This is the first P.G. Wodehouse that I have read. I immediately went out and bought a second book by the same author. I normally don't read humor but I going have to change my reading habits. This book is hilarious. Full of wittism and imagination, it is hard to put down. I wanted to quote my favorite line here but I would have to copy the whole book. Wodehouse is a genious.

Classic Plum
The first story is perhaps a little too concerned with romance at the expense of pace and wit but is nevertheless hugely entertaining. The remainder of this compendium contains some of Wodehouse's finest writing. It blisters along like the 4:30 from Paddington with more twists than a poodle's coat. More chuckles per minute than even the finest Wooster stories. Heartily recommended.

2nd-4th Books in the Blandings Castle Series
Blandings Castle comes alive when the Empress of Blandings arrives, which she does in Summer Lightning. All fans of romantic comedies will enjoy these books very much.

Be sure to begin the series by reading, Leave It to Psmith, which has an outstanding plot and introduces most of the major characters in the series

Summer Lightning is better than many other P.G. Wodehouse books in that the plot and character development are more thorough than most which keeps the fun going longer.

Clarence, the ninth Earl of Emsworth, is at home in his castle in Shropshire where he dotes on his famous prize-winning pig, the Empress of Blandings. Having dispatched his earlier secretary, Baxter, Clarence is at peace contemplating how his pig will win again when he learns from his brother Galahad (Gally) that the neighbor's pig man is offering 3:1 odds against the Empress. Clarence and Gally presume that their neighbor, Sir Gregory Parsloe is planning to knobble the Empress. Their worst fears are borne out when the Empress disappears!

At the same time, Parsloe lives in fear that Gally will publish old stories about his wild younger days in Gally's new book. Clarence's and Gally's sister Connie wants to stop publication as well. Soon the castle is overrun with manuscript thieves!

At the same time, love is in the air. Clarence's new secretary, Hugo Carmody, is secretly and unsuitably in love with Millicent Threepwood, niece to Clarence, Connie and Gally, and Millicent is in love with him. But they need to get some financial help to pull off the merger.

Ronald Fish, a wealthy young man whose money is tied with Clarence, is also in love with an unsuitable person . . . one Sue Brown who is a chorus girl. Ronnie has proven himself to be a poor judge of investments in the past, and Clarence is skeptical of allowing any more money. It doesn't help when Clarence finds that Ronnie doesn't truly share his love of pigs!

Will love win out? Of course! It's a P.G. Wodehouse book. But before love wins, humor will take the day in many silly scenes worthy of Shakespeare's best in the forest of Arden.

Heavy Weather picks up where Summer Lightning leaves off. Ronnie Fish's jealousy gets Sue Brown and him into trouble when his mother, Lady Julia Fish, arrives to sunder the pair. Gally's manuscript continues to play a role throughout as does the Empress. This book would only be a three-stars book if you didn't read Summer Lightning first.