The Lighthearted Quest

The Lighthearted Quest (1956) Ann Bridge

I picked up a bunch of books in this series when they were on sale, and then they sat, unread, while I read other things.

The book started off well. It’s set post WWII, a time period I’m fond of due to Agatha Christie, and it was amusing.

“Where a man’s bank-account is, there shall his body be also, at least occasionally.”

“Where was I?” Mr. St John asked, suddenly lost in his own parentheses.

And there were lots of fascinating tidbits that come from reading an historical written when it was a contemporary.

(H)er Majesty however not only stepped ashore herself, but for good measure sent those royal midgets, Prince Charles and Princess Anne, up the Rock to see the monkeys.

It’s strange for me to imagine Prince Charles as a child.

And lots and lots of fascinating words I hardly every come across: strophe, cassant, voluble, quisling, saurian, ‘pansy’, ‘spiv’, trilby, saloon cars, confréres.

What a marvelous collections of words!

But then, despite everything, the story just went on. And on. And on. I was doing little more than browsing the pages towards the end, looking for any important passages, reading those, and speeding along again.

Which was really to bad, because as I said, I had initially enjoyed the story.

So, I’ve got a bunch more of these, but I have no idea if I’ll read another one.
Rating: 5/10

Published by Bloomsbury Reader

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