Cold Comfort Farm (Bookworms Library) [Paperback]

Stella Gibbons (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0194792552 | ISBN-13: 978-0194792554 | Publication Date: December 27, 2007 | Edition: New edition

The farm lies in the shadow of a hill, and the farmyard rarely sees the sun, even in summer, when the sukebind hangs heavy in the branches. Here live the Starkadders - Aunt Ada Doom, Judith, Amos, Seth, Reuben, Elfine...They lead messy, untidy lives, full of dark thoughts, moody silences, and sudden noisy quarrels. That is, until their attractive young cousin arrives from London. Neat, sensible, efficient, Flora Poste cannot bear messes (they are so uncivilized). She begins to tidy up the Starkadders' lives at once ...

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press Elt; New edition edition (December 27, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0194792552
• ISBN-13: 978-0194792554
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,757,992 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars THIS IS AN ABRIDGED VERSION, August 10, 2009

By 

hkmead "hkmead" (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cold Comfort Farm (Bookworms Library) (Paperback)

This appears nowhere in the publisher's information, but this edition is NOT THE ORIGINAL TEXT BY STELLA GIBBONS. Inside, on the title page, it says in small letters, "Retold by Clare West." I'm sure Ms. West did her best, but Stella Gibbons' delightfully dry prose is inimitable.

"Cold Comfort Farm" is a wonderful book, but you should get the real version, not this one. Please DON'T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE I did! Amazon.com was very kind and refunded my purchase, but you can avoid the hassle and the emotional trauma of reading an abridged version.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SOMETHING NASTY HAPPENED IN THE WOODSHED..., May 10, 2008

By 

Lawyeraau (Balmoral Castle) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Cold Comfort Farm (Bookworms Library) (Paperback)

First published in 1932, this novel is a hysterically funny, tongue in cheek parody of the heavy handed, gloomy novels of some early twentieth century English writers who had previously been so popular. Tremendously successful when first published, "Cold Comfort Farm" caused quite a stir in its time.

The novel starts out innocuously enough, when well-educated Flora Poste finds herself orphaned at the age of twenty. Discovering that her father was not the wealthy man she believed him to be, she is resigned to the fate of having to live on a hundred pounds a year. Opting to live with relatives, rather than earn her bread, she seeks out a most unlikely set of relations, the odd Starkadder family who live in Howling, Sussex.

Therein begins what is certainly one of the funniest novels ever written. When Flora arrives in Howling, she meets her odd relatives, who live in neglected, ramshackle "Cold Comfort Farm", where they still wash the dishes with twigs, and have cows named Graceless, Pointless, Feckless, and Aimless. Headed by a seventy-nine year old matriarch, Flora's aunt, Ada Doom Starkadder, who has not been right in the head since she "saw something nasty happen in the woodshed" nearly seventy years ago, they are a motley and strange crew indeed. Confronted with their dismal and gloomy existence, Flora sets about trying to put things to right.

Peppered with eccentric, memorable characters, this book will take the reader on a journey not easily forgotten. It is one that is sure to make the reader revisit this novel yet again, like an old friend who is missed too soon.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Please label this "Abridged Version", March 18, 2011

By 

Suzyn Smith Webb "Dull suburban chick with oc... (McLean, VA United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cold Comfort Farm (Bookworms Library) (Paperback)

Like another commenter, I didn't notice that this was an abridged version with text by someone other than Stella Gibbons until it was too late. Yes, it is fairly obvious if you read the page closely, but I was in a hurry when I bought it and I didn't realize that I needed to make sure what Amazon was calling "Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons" was actually that.

I was sending the book to a friend and just got a sarcastic email about having sent him an abridged version. If you've read this far, you probably already know not to buy this version, but I wish Amazon made it a little clearer higher on the page.