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Something Fresh

Something New (US)

A Blandings novel

Plot Outline

Freddie Threepwood, son of Lord Emsworth, is engaged to Aline Peters. When Lord Emsworth visits Aline's father, he absent-mindedly pockets a valuable scarab from his collection. Mr Peters believes Lord E has stolen it.

Aline tells her friend Joan, who goes to Blandings as her maid to get the scarab back (and a one thousand pounds reward). Mr Peters employs Ashe Marson as his valet, also to recover the scarab and also for a thousand pounds. But they under-estimate the Efficient Baxter.

Publishing Information

UK:1915 Herbert Jenkins
1969 Herbert Jenkins, with new preface
1979 Penguin (used here)
US:1915 Appleton as Something New
(also A. L. Burt & Co., 1915)

Published in eight parts from 26 June to 14 August 1915 in the Saturday Evening Post (US) as Something New.

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This first Blandings Castle novel in the series fittingly contains the first (and second) in a long line of impostors. It is the only Blandings book to go behind the scenes at the castle, giving us a view from the staff's perspective. While later visits are also dignified by the presence of Beach none have so many named servants, nor do we see so much of their part of the Castle. This novel is a little out of step with those that follow but like all Blandings books, a must to read.

The US version Something New is substantially the same but the characters Joan, Ashe and George Emerson are American and there is a additional mini-plot involving paint and shoes taken from Mike and Psmith. There are also minor differences in phrases, such as 'second-storey man' instead of 'plug ugly', which are too numerous to list and the chapter numbering is different from Chapter 9 onwards.