Well I had already finished reading Smut – two unseemly stories – by Alan Bennett, when fellow blogger Jo @The Book Jotter mentioned that it probably wasn’t a good one to start with as I hadn’t read anything by him before. I know what she meant as I’m sure it’s not typical of his writing as it is fairly smutty as you would expect from the title, it isn’t one to give to your strait-laced aunties or grannies.

Smut contains two novellas, or two long short stories, whichever you prefer. The first one is called The Greening of Mrs Donaldson which is about a middle aged widow who is struggling money wise after the death of her husband. She takes in a couple of lodgers, student medics, and they encourage her to get some part time work at the local teaching hospital. So far so ordinary, but things do take a turn to the more risque side of things, not really my cup of tea.

The second one is The Shielding of Mrs Forbes. You’ll not be surprised to learn that Mrs Forbes is – a middle aged woman. She’s a bit of a harridan, obsessive about her darling son, and Mr Forbes is really of no interest to her at all. This story is a bit more straight forward, hmm, perhaps that’s not quite the right phrase, given the subject matter.

Anyway, the stories were okay-ish. The blurb on the back says that they are naughty, honest and funny. The Radio Times said – ‘Hugely entertaining… an absolute joy’. But I’ll stick with my okay-ish!