P. G. Wodehouse

A Jeeves and Wooster novel At Deverill Hall, an idyllic Tudor manor in the picture-perfect village of King's Deverill, impostors are in the air. The prime example is man-about-town Bertie Wooster, doing a good turn to Gussie Fink-Nottle by impersonating him while he enjoys fourteen days away from society after being caught taking an unscheduled dip in the fountains of Trafalgar Square. Bertie is of course one of nature's gentlemen, but the stakes are high: if all is revealed, there's a danger that Gussie's simpering fiancée Madeline may turn her wide eyes on Bertie instead. It's a brilliant plan - until Gussie himself turns up, imitating Bertram Wooster. After that, only the massive brain of Jeeves (himself in disguise) can set things right.

The Mating Season

The mating season

Gavin

“Still,” I said, feeling that it was worth trying, “it’s part of the great web, what?” 

“Great web?” 

“One of Marcus Aurelius’s cracks. He said: Does aught befall you? It is good. It is part of the destiny of 
the Universe ordained for you from the beginning. All that befalls you is part of the great web. ” 

From the brusque manner in which he damned and blasted Marcus Aurelius, I gathered that, just as had happened when Jeeves sprang it on me, the gag had failed to bring balm. I hadn't had much hope that it would. I doubt, as a matter of fact, if Marcus Aurelius’s material is ever the stuff to give the troops at a moment when they have just stubbed their toe on the brick of Fate. You want to wait till the agony has abated. 



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Classification:

Wooster's taboo: None; using a port decanter as a conductor's baton while standing on a chair bellowing hunting doggerel.
Triangle: Wooster - the Bassett - Gussie - Corky - Esmond - Gertrude - Catsmeat - Queenie - Dobbs.*
Subplot: Arresting a dog, kidnapping, converting an atheist.
Aunt: Agatha and five others
Antagonist: Dame Daphne Winkworth, the Bassett, Agatha
Expedient: treble impersonation, comedic Irish crosstalk, luring a schoolboy with a starlet, coshing a cop to convert him to Christianity.




* It is vital to have an odd number of people in the love 'triangle', so that they can all be paired off at the end, sparing Wooster.

The Mating Season

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