Laughter on the Stairs

English author, gardener and raconteur Beverley Nichols' second volume in his Merry Hall trilogy continues the story of the renovation of his country house and garden. Laughter on the Stairs concentrates on the house rather than the garden. Eccentric neighbors and friends and loyal but quirky household staff return. In one chapter, the author and his friends fill a dry well by hand by lugging water from a nearby stream all night in order to ensure the sale of a cottage for their shy neighbor Miss Mint of Bide-a-Wee Cottage. They fill the well to fool the buyer, an obnoxious author who pretends to be a gypsy and writes terrible, but bestselling, drivel about her adventures in a caravan. These are all true stories and I wonder how Mr. Nichols had any friends left after he wrote these memoirs in the early 1950's. The book is illustrated with lovely black and white drawings throughout. For fans of English cozies/memoirs/humor and above all - for gardeners.
The library owns the Merry Hall Trilogy which is shelved in non-fiction 635 NIC.  For my review of the first book in the trilogy, Merry Hall, click here.