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Blandings - the logo of www.blandings.org.uk, the Companion to the works of P G Wodehouse

Not George Washington

A novel - co-authored with H. W. Westbrook

Margaret Goodwin saves James Cloyster from drowning in the sea off Guernsey and they fall in love. But there is a snag - they cannot afford to marry so he goes to London to make his fortune as a writer. Through many devious means, James first makes a success of his writings, then fails when he gets greedy. Then help comes from an unexpected source.

Publishing Information

UK1907 Cassell and Co.
US1980 Continuum
2007 Dodo Press

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Widely regarded as PG's worst book and I'm not disagreeing. It's a rambling mess told by several of the characters, each jumping backwards and forwards in time, only one of whom carries any sympathy. The writing is also poor - take this line from the first chapter, 'Breakfast was a success, for my mother was a philosopher.' or from Chapter 15, 'I went to pay my devoirs to my hostess. She was supinely gamesome.' These are neither isolated examples nor the worst.

The only real interest is spotting the thinly disguised references to Wodehouse's early years in London, e.g. the 'On Your Way' column in the Orb is a reference to the 'By the Way' column in the Globe, and Cloyster lives at 23 Walpole St. while PG lived at number 22 for a while.