Review of Miss Goodhue Lives for a Night, by Kate Noble

Afficionados of Noel Coward and Oscar Wilde will appreciate the classic “comedy of manners” style of Kate Noble’s superbly crafted period novel, Miss Goodhue Lives for a Night. Lovers of Amanda Quick and Kathleen Woodiwiss will revel in the repartee and humorous situations.

Miss Goodhue, you see, was ruined. Yes, all her hopes of a normal life were dashed years ago when a suitor, ostensibly bent on marriage, abandoned her en route to the altar. She never saw him again, and she has accepted the life of a soiled spinster lady secluded in Helmsley, a tiny town worlds away from London society.

Imagine the turmoil, therefore, when Miss Goodhue finds that her cousin, Eleanor, has run off with a, well there is no other way to say it, a man! Without a moment to lose, dear Miss Goodhue hies herself off to London to rescue the errant cousin, only to find — oh, the horror of it! — that her unwanted ally in the search is Theo, her own runaway ex-fiancé.

When preparing for her search, which will end in a climactic Night In Society, Miss Goodhue encounters numerous friends and neighbors with bizarre errands for her to perform while in London.

[“I am happy to take your rhodes-of-dandelion.”

                        “Rhododendron.”

                        “Yes, that. Thank you.”]

                        …

                        [H]er luggage included a bill of sale for bolts of cloth, coin enough for thirty or so pounds of teea, several letters and smaller parcels to be delivered, two very large wooden fish, and a rhododendron.

                       All she needed was a partridge in a pear tree and she would be immortalized in song.]

Miss Goodhue (Cecilia) and Theo talk and argue, always at cross purposes, until each of them discovers something that changes all their assumptions.

[“Funny, but I always thought you would have taken to the sea.”

                        “The sea?”

                        “Yes. Either via conscription or transportation, but I saw a voyage in your future.”

                        He cracked a smile at that.]

Readers will find themselves smiling, giggling, highlighting favorite passages, and then looking for other novels from Kate Noble, an accomplished, witty, and entertaining author.

This book is suitable for all ages and sensibilities; there is no offensive material.

A pre-publication reader’s copy was provided in exchange for an objective review.