Something Fresh by P. G. Wodehouse

Something Fresh by P.G. Wodehouse
Narrator: Jonathan Cecil
Series: Blandings Castle #1
Published by Blackstone Audio on May 3, 2011 (first published 1915)
Source: Purchased
Genres: Classic, Humor
Length: 7 hrs 29 mins
Format: Audiobook
Purchase at Bookshop.org or Purchase at Amazon
Add on Goodreads

One thing that constantly disrupts the peace of life at Blandings is the constant incursion of impostors. Blandings has impostors like other houses have mice.

Now there are two of them – both intent on a dangerous enterprise. Lord Emsworth’s secretary, the efficient Baxter, is on the alert and determined to discover what is afoot – despite the distractions caused by the Honorable Freddie Threepwood’s hapless affair of the heart.

I’ve read several of Wodehouse’s Jeeves and Bertie books, but Something Fresh is the first of his Blandings Castle series I’ve picked up. It was funny and light-hearted and just a nice break.

Lord Emsworth, owner of Blandings Castle, accidentally stole a valuable scarab from his son’s fiancée’s father, a millionaire American. Our two main characters, Ashe Marson and Joan Valentine, are headed to Blandings Castle for a house party, both trying to retrieve the scarab and receive the reward. They both are impersonating servants, so we see a lot of what is happening downstairs. Ashe and Joan have a lot in common even though they have only recently met; they are both writers, both live in the same building, both could use a new direction, something fresh. In the meantime, Lord Emsworth son may or may not be a spot of trouble over a former crush. Now that he is engaged, those letters he wrote to another woman may cost him. Of course, his fiancee may not have eyes only for him anyway.

You get the idea. Charming people, silly people, misunderstandings, romances, a couple of minor assaults, just a lot of fun. And everything works out fine in the end.