The Saturday Morning Post (No.81)

This week we have another D E Stevenson story. This one dates back to 1943.

My reviewer criteria. I like light, entertaining novels. I like smaller scale stories rather than epics. I like character focused novels featuring pleasant characters, with a minimum number of unpleasant ones. I greatly value clever and witty writing. I like first person, or close third person narratives. I dislike a lot of "head jumping" between POVs and flashbacks. I want a story, not a puzzle. While I am not opposed to violence, I dislike gore for the sake of gore. I find long and elaborate fight, action, and battle sequences tedious. Plot holes and things that happen for the convenience of the author annoy me. And I fear I'm a born critic in that I don't mind pointing out what I don't like in a story. However, I lay no claim to be the final arbitrator of style and taste, you need to decide for yourself what you like or dislike in a book.

Your opinions are always welcome. Comment below. 

Celia's House by D. E. Stevenson   C+

This story is a modest family saga. Sagas are not really my cup of tea when it comes to stories, so that might color my appreciation of the story, a little. The story is set in what I believe is the Borderlands of Scotland and tells the story of the Dunne family of Dunnian House starting in 1905 and ending in 1942. 

The initial premise is that the eighty-something old spinster of Dunnian house, Miss Celia Dunne, decides to leave the house to her great-nephew naval Lt. Commander Humphrey because she likes him much better than a more direct heir, with a wife that she knows will change Dunnian House all out of recognition. There is one catch, however. Unlike the custom of the time where the eldest son would inherit the estate, Lt Commander Humphrey must leave the estate to a daughter, one of which he doesn't have yet, and she must be named Celia. Despite some reservations, he agrees, in order to settle his family in a place of their own, who up to then had been moving frequently, and living hand to mouth on his naval pay - family that he rarely gets to see as a naval officer. With this settled, we then follow the family as they grow up over the course of nearly forty years, each with their issues as they make their way to adulthood, and eventually families of their own. As such, the novel is one of episodes dealing with various characters and issues strung out over the years.

As with all the work of Stevenson, it is well written with sharp observations of people and customs, laced with sentimentality. What it lacks, for me, is a central character to follow through the story. And, as I said at the top, I'm not a very avid fan of long drawn out saga. And while I enjoyed reading this story when I was reading it, I wasn't all that eager to get back to it when I put it down. And, I must confess I skim-read certain small sections, so that I can't really give it more than a grade of C, with a plus for Stevenson's always readable writing.