Strange Journey by Maud Cairnes was originally published in 1935 but it has just been reprinted by British Library. I really enjoyed it.
It begins with Polly Wilkinson leaning on her garden gate. When an unusually grand car goes down the road past her gate she’s impressed, it’s a Rolls Royce, not that she knows that at the time. There’s a woman inside it and Polly wonders what it would be like to be her. So begins a body swap comedy as soon Polly is experiencing dizziness which it turns out is the sign that she will soon be arriving in the body of Lady Elizabeth who happend to be the woman who was sitting in the Rolls Royce. Polly has never been in a grand house like Lady Elizabeth’s so she’s at a loss how to cope with it all, and Lady Elizabeth’s somewhat distant husband and the servants are surprised by Polly’s behaviour, as of course she doesn’t even know where her bedroom is!
At the same time Lady Elizabeth was whisked off to Polly’s home. Polly’s home life is very different, she’s middle-class with two small boys, a fairly close relationship with her husband. There are a couple of servants, but it’s all very different from what Lady Elizabeth is used to.
Both women make gaffes which perplex their nearest and dearest, but it’s Polly who has the toughest time of it as she has to cope with meeting people like Lord Pottlesham, a top government minister. Polly is the only person who is impressed by him!
Most of the humour in this book revolves around class and social situations, but they both learn from each other. At times I thought that there were things that Polly would definitely have known about, I find it hard to believe that she wouldn’t have known all about aristocratic titles and how they are used, such as the difference between Lady (first name) and Lady (husband’s surname) but that’s me being a bit of a nit-picker.
I was also amused that Polly’s husband was so impressed by how much she did as well as looking after the children, but she had a couple of servants. What would he have thought of the women nowadays who have kids, work outside the home – and still do the vast bulk of the housework and childcare!
As ever, I find all the extra bits of info in these British Library books interesting, particularly the Afterword by Simon Thomas of Stuck in a Book.
I was lucky to be sent a copy of this book by British Library for review. Thank you, it’s a shame that Maud Cairnes only published one other novel.
Hi Katrina,
This one sounds really interesting. I’m wondering–If you received this for review, has the book been actually published yet, or…soon?
Have been meaning to write, especially since our news has been full of reports of unprecedented heat in England. Are you in the heat, too? I read in the New York Times that London was expected to reach 102 degrees F today. (39 celsius). Eee gads.
One time, when I was 22, our temps hit 105 degrees, and we had no air conditioning! And in the 16 years we lived just on the Boston boundary, we hit 102 degrees several times, but we had a.c. I can’t imagine dealing with those temps without it!
We’ve been so incredibly lucky so far this summer up here in the North Country. We’re going into the low-to mid 80s next week, but basically our weather has been in the 70s with cool nights. I feel guilty, in a way, for all the people suffering extremes of heat this summer!
Judith,
I forgot to say that I got it to review! I think it has been published. It is supposed to be 29 Celsius here tomorrow which is 84.2 F. I’ll let you know if it gets that hot, it was supposed to be hot today but it has been grey and in the mid 60s F I think, which is fine by me, but I would have preferred a blue sky! Parts of southern England might be as hot as 102 F tomorrow, and just about nobody there has air conditioning! We were thinking about going down to England for a week or so, but we decided against it for the moment! I’m glad it’s coolish for you so far, I hope it stays that way.
Interesting about the Lady [Name] protocol – I was so nervous about getting it wrong in the afterword, because I had no idea how it worked! đŸ˜€ Required some research.
Simon,
I think that I figured that out when I was quite young as I read a lot of classics. I can’t remember learning about it though! Possibly my mother told me how it worked, she was very into the royal family and titles.