Kate Hardy by D.E. Stevenson was first published in 1947.
The ancient village of Old Quinings is full of gossip, it’s rumoured that Richard Morven the owner of The Priory, an historic estate, has sold the Dower House. Richard’s wife dies some years before and he sees no need to hang on to the property which has been bought by Kate Hardy, an author in search of a quiet place to write. Kate also has a flat in London but since her older widowed sister and her daughter have plonked themselves on her, with no feelings of gratitude Kate decides to leave them to it in the London flat.
D.E. Stevenson’s writing remind me very much of that other Scottish author O.Douglas – minus the religion, with both of them writing about small communities and usually a young woman moving to a new neighbourhood and having to make a new home for herself amongst strangers.
However there’s a bit more to Kate Hardy which deals with the snobbery and jealousy that some returning soldiers had to put up with when they came back from World War 2 – hoping to just pick up their lives where they were prior to joining the armed forces. It’s a bit of social history and an enjoyable read.
I read this one for the Read Scotland 2016 Challenge.
Pleasantly surprised to find that my local library has two of D.E. Stevenson’s books (Sarah Morris Remembers; Fletcher’s End) although they are tucked away in the “stack”, which means I’ll have to ask for them to be brought down from upstairs or wherever they hide them.
But any comparison with O. Douglas is a sufficient drawcard to excite interest for me, so I look forward to reading these đŸ™‚
Valerie,
I hope you enjoy them when you get a hold of them, I haven’t read either of those ones yet. Just in case you don’t know – D.E.’s father was a cousin of Robert Louis Stevenson and her mother was a cousin of Lord Roberts of Kandahar – I have a commemorative plate with his face on it! Also her great grandfather was Robert Stevenson who built the Bell Rock Lighthouse amongst many others.
This one sounds interesting – I’m glad you enjoyed it. I haven’t read much by D.E. Stevenson, but I loved Amberwell when I read it earlier in the year and I also have a copy of Vittoria Cottage which I’m looking forward to reading.
Helen,
I enjoyed Amberwell some time ago too although it doesn’t have the humour of her Mrs Tim books. I haven’t read Vittoria Cottage yet. I find her books quite difficult to get a hold of despite the fact I live in Scotland.
Always happy to see posts on D E Stevenson’s books. I think that Kate Hardy and Vittoria Cottage well represent the early post-war period of her writing, with ordinary people adjusting to the aftermath of WWII. And Amberwell is one of my very favourites.
For anyone interested in finding out more about DES and her books, I have a website at destevenson.org you might be interested in.
Susan D,
Thanks for taking the time to comment and directing me to your website. I agree that she seems to have captured the feeling of post war Britain, her books are a bit of social history and I’m not surprised that she was so popular in her day.