The Chinese Shawl
We took four or five Nicolas Freelings with us and as many Patricia Wentworths. I read all the Freelings, and only one of the Wentworts. The other Wentworths I gave a trial, but dismissed them around page 20. This was the only one I finished...
Perhaps I am not a Miss Silver person. Perhaps the Wentworth style gets my goat. I am certain that I despise the idiot men and the stupid women she fills her books with. The men in this book all seem to lose their heads over a piece of skirt they all recognize as venomous. They all seem to be prepared to dump their loving wives and fiancees for the utterly atrocious Tanis.
And then there's the heroine, Tanis... But no, she is too silly. And the way the hero proposes... Read for yourself:
"...We're going to be married on Thursday. Three clear week-days — that's the quickest you can do unless you drag in the Archbisshop of Canterbury and pay about thrity pounds for a special license. So I though Thursday."
"Carey, I couldn't!"
Some more you will -- I couldn't, until the end:
"Snap out of it darling, and kiss me! We're wasting time."
That's going to be one very pleasant marriage, I can tell you. What was this Patricia woman thinking of? Would she actually like a man like him? Would she like to be a piece fluff like her?
