At the best of times I love a comic novel, and these have not been the best of times. I really, really needed an entertaining read right now. And I found it in Jeeves and the Leap of Faith, Ben Shott's second homage to P. G. Wodehouse's classic Wooster and Jeeves novels.
Shott brings Wodehouse's eccentric characters back to life, embroiled in a zany and complicated tangled plot of comedic excellence.
Over the course of a week, Bertie evades matrimony, helps save the Drones club from insolvency, goes undercover for the government, battles fascism, challenges Jeeves choice of bedroom wallpaper, and stands up to his formidable Aunt Agatha.
Strange things go on. What's even stranger is that they are based on history! Like the annual Boot-Finding in Spitalfields Market and the Pavement Club, a Cambridge society that sat on the pavement on Saturday afternoons, and the Hysteron Proteron club of Balliol College that in the 1920s spent a day living backward. Also appearing are the night climbers of Cambridge and the daring leap that gives this volume its name.
Throughout the novel, Bertie struggles with the Times crossword puzzle, which is included in the endnotes for readers to solve!
I am fortified with gladness, ready again to face the chaotic world.
I received a free galley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.
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Jeeves and the Leap of Faith: A Novel in Homage to P. G. Wodehouse
by Ben Schott
Little, Brown and Company
Pub Date: October 13, 2020
ISBN: 9780316541046
hardcover $28.00 (USD)
by Ben Schott
Little, Brown and Company
Pub Date: October 13, 2020
ISBN: 9780316541046
hardcover $28.00 (USD)
from the publisher:
The Drones club’s in peril. Gussie’s in love. Spode’s on the war path. Oh, and His Majesty’s Government needs a favor . . .
I say! It’s a good thing Bertie’s back, what?
In his eagerly anticipated sequel to Jeeves and the King of Clubs, Ben Schott leads Jeeves and Wooster on another elegantly uproarious escapade.
From the mean streets of Mayfair to the scheming spires of Cambridge, we encounter a joyous cast of characters: chiseling painters and criminal bookies, eccentric philosophers and dodgy clairvoyants, appalling poets and pocket dictators, vexatious aunts and their vicious hounds.
But that’s not all:
Who is ICEBERG, and why is he covered in chalk?
Why is Jeeves reading Winnie-the-Pooh?
What is seven across and eighty-five down?
How do you play Russian Roulette at The Savoy?
These questions, and more, are answered in Jeeves and the Leap of Faith — an homage to P.G. Wodehouse, authorized by his estate, and essential reading for fans of The Master.
Tinkety-tonk!
