Good Night, Mr. Wodehouse

 Good Night, Mr. Wodehouse by Faith Sullivan

Early in the twentieth century Nell Stillman is blindsided when her husband dies, leaving her penniless with an infant son to raise on her own. Through the kindness of friends she lands a job teaching, and gets help with childcare when her young cousin, Elvira, comes to live with her.

The story covers thiry-five to forty years, right up to her death which we knew was coming because the book opens with her self-written obituary. Through the ups and downs of her life - friendships found and lost, raising her son, the war - she finds solace in the novels of P.G. Wodehouse. Many of his titles are mentioned and she lauds them as an escape from the hard realities of her life, but there's no real discussion of the books. With Wodehouse's name in the title, and having read in other reviews how much Nell learned from his books, I was a little disappointed there wasn't more about them, more insight into them and how they related to her life. 

But, it is a well-told story with believable characters and sufficient plot development to keep the story moving and hold the reader's interest to the end. All in all, a good read.