GENRE: ROMCOM (?)/SATIRE

 And Mrs Arbuthnot is at first glance, fluffy-light, whimsical and possibly based on Oscar Wilde’s character of the same name. It’s presented as a volume of twelve connected short stories about a difficult and temperamental woman and her interactions with the community of Gorehampton in West Sussex, and the frustrations of modern living. Straightaway, I’m salivating to read it. Love a bit of satire; even the light fluffy sort.  

I read it in one night and recognise much of myself in Mrs A. I love cats and book clubs and hate shopping malls, along with much that is new and changing and, like her, I abhor people changing the spelling of simple words such as ‘fair’ to frivolities such as ‘fayre’. I also recognise facets of other people I know, particularly the bossy, organising types, the hate-Christmas grinches and the scone-bakers. We never learn her full name, but Mrs Arbuthnot’s relatable and funny because she exaggerates the eccentricities of many of us. I chuckled all the way through it.

  Patricia Feinberg Stoner explores a lot of junctures in the course of an everyday life, and thematically it focuses on the nuances of personality. The book captures the sense of community routine and roles in a small town. I’ve lived in them all my life and there is always a committee of organisers. Funny, heartwarming and irresistibly human, Mrs A. has the potential to be another Olive Kitteridge.