"I'll set my face against all female society, if that will reassure you. But," he added firmly, "Miss Fairlie is different. She'll give us no trouble; you can depend on that, Mrs. McCaig.'
Mrs. McCaig looked at him with withering scorn. "I'm no' so sure. Have a care, Glenlochart."
When Alison Fairlie, on holiday from her decorating job in London, lands at Glenlochart House, the family home of Neil McPherson, now being run as a quiet hotel primarily for gentlemen fishermen, he assures his surly housekeeper she'll be no bother. Little does he know...
Alison soon falls in love with the house and the Scottish countryside (and perhaps a little bit with Neil himself?), but matters are complicated by the arrival of other guests. Though Mrs. McCaig refers to 34-year-old Allison as "yon spinster body", her advanced age (!) doesn't discourage young Roddy Tosh, the appropriately-surnamed, spoiled son of a wealthy businessman, whom Allison finds ludicrous but entertaining ("as if she were throwing small fish to a seal"). Roddy's attentions lead to misunderstandings, but they're nothing compared to the chaos which ensues with the arrival of Alison's freeloading mother, a distressed gentlewoman forever on the make, and her sister, an irresponsible flirt. In this delicious romantic comedy first published in 1936, things will work themselves out, but it's how they do that is such surprising and cheerful fun.
Originally published in 1936, this new edition features a new introduction by twentieth-century women's historian Elizabeth Crawford.
"Rich in humorous complications" Aberdeen Press
