"Miss Buncle Married" by D.E. Stevenson

Back before Christmas, my D.E. Stevenson group read "Miss Buncle's Book," one of the author's early works (review here).  We read "Peter West" together to start off the new year (latest review here), but for our next book (beginning shortly), we'll be returning to visit with Miss Buncle in the 1936 sequel "Miss Buncle Married."  As usual, I read the book first myself -- actually a re-read, as I'd read it back in 2015 (! -- gulp! seriously, 10 years ago now??!).

It's now 1934 (the book ends with celebrations for the 1935 Royal Jubilee of King George V), and the former Miss Barbara Buncle and her new husband/publisher, Arthur Abbott, decide to leave the city and its tiresome social obligations and move to (what they hope will be) a quieter life in the country. 

After a long search, Barbara finds what she thinks is the perfect house -- a fixer-upper in a quaint village called Wandlebury, full of quirky characters to rival those found in her hometown of Silverstream. Arthur's visiting nephew, Sam, soon falls madly in love with neighbouring riding instructor Miss Jeronina (Jerry) Cobbe, niece of Lady Chevis-Cobbe, one of the town's wealthiest citizens.  Alas, Barbara is in possession of a certain piece of information -- which she has promised to keep secret -- that threatens the young couple's future. I don't think it's a real spoiler to reveal that love triumphs in the end (as it always does) -- but not without a few twists & turns along the way.

As I've often said, Stevenson's books are perhaps a little old-fashioned -- products of the era & culture in which they were written -- but they are still well-crafted, funny and charming tales about interesting, realistic, human characters. Miss Buncle remains her charming self here, and this is an enjoyable book overall -- but the sequel does lack the satirical bite of the original (which I rated at 4 stars).   

My original 2015 review of "Miss Buncle Married" here. No stars given then;  I don't believe I was a Goodreads member yet at that point -- but when I did join Goodreads (a year later, I think?), I retroactively assigned it 4 stars.  As I alluded above, I enjoyed this sequel, but it wasn't *quite* up to par with the original (as is often the case with sequels) -- so this time around, I'm giving "Miss Buncle Married" 3.5 stars on StoryGraph, rounded up to 4 on Goodreads. 

SPOILER/content warning:  There's a pregnancy announcement at the end of the book. Also a rather eye-rolling reflection by Barbara on the superiority of the married state. (But this WAS the 1930s...!) 

I will count this book as a re-read when the group has finished its collective chapter-by-chapter reading & discussion (in July) -- after which we will tackle the third book in the Miss Buncle trilogy, "The Two Mrs. Abbotts." 

This was Book #11 read to date in 2025 (and Book #1 finished in April), bringing me to 24% of my 2025 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 1 book ahead of schedule to meet my goal.  :)  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2025 tagged as "2025 books."