The Four Graces

 

The Four Graces / D.E. Stevenson
London: Sourcebooks, 2014, c1946.
256 p.

Another Stevenson read for me -- this is another of the reprint editions that I've found via my library. These novels are always gentle and amusing, not very disturbing at all. Sometimes that is just what you need. 

This is set in the small village of Chevis Green, where the 4 Grace sisters live with their father, the Vicar of the village. Grace. Liz, Sal, Tilly, and Addie are comfortable and happy there, but things are changing. This book is set during the war (and published shortly after its end) but the war is just the backdrop, it really doesn't affect this story direrctly. (For more direct commentary on the war, you could try The Two Mrs. Abbotts). 

Youngest sister Addie goes off to join the WAAF so isn't too much in evidence in the story, while pretty Liz works on a local farm. Sal is a recovering invalid, so doesn't get guilted into doing anything extra for the war effort, while the shyest sister Tillie is quite happy to live at home and take care of her father and family, longing for the old days. 

Into this quiet life come a mishmash of upsets, all due to the war in some way. An Aunt arrives from her bombed flat in London, and rather overstays her welcome while angling for poor widowed Mr. Grace. There are various suitors who arrive in the village, with misunderstandings getting in the way of true love. Everybody seems to be changing, which bothers Tillie but not the other sisters, who are the ones having the things happening to them.

"Life was like that, thought Liz. You drifted on for years and years -- then, suddenly, everything happened at once and all the things that had seemed so stable dissolved and disintegrated before your eyes ... and life was new."

I enjoyed the story for its Stevenson style, and the descriptions of the four girls and the little things of village life. As daughters of the Vicar, they seem to have their hands in among most of the village occurrences and are often looked to to solve disagreements -- there's always drama, no matter how minor. It's interesting to read something that is set during war, and seeing the small ways it has changed the patterns of life, even if it isn't really the subject of the story. I found this one a little slight in comparison to the earlier Miss Buncle stories that are also set in this world (some characters reappear) but it was still an entertaining read. When you're in the mood for a Stevenson, this one will do!