Mr Finchley is a 45 year old Clerk. He is told to take a holiday for the first time in his entire life. He decides to go to the seaside but his plans go wrong as fate has other plans for him. He is kidnapped by a cheerful crook who cons him into something he doesn’t want to do. He ends up taking a walking holiday and having adventures along the way. He finishes up smuggling and hitching a ride back to London.
This book would have been great back when it was originally written however it was a good story but difficult to read and somethings not explained very well. I would recommend it to those who like a historical story. Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for access to this book in exchange for my honest review.

Really enjoyed this book. Great plot and engaging, believe characters. I was drawn right into the story. Would definitely recommend.

Set aside a day for this delightful, PG English adventure that was first published in 1934 in which 45-year-old bachelor Edgar Finchley, Esq, having worked at Bardwell & Sprake for 28 years, takes his first-ever holiday. I received a review copy quite a while back from NetGalley that got lost in the queue and this is my voluntary review.

"Mr Finchley Discovers His England" was an overall okay read. It was enjoyable if a little too predictable.

I didn't connect with the style of the story and it reminded me a lot of Wodehouse though not enjoyable to me, and it could be because it's an older title rereleased and therefore feels dated to me.

Well, this was quite the adventure for Mr Finchley. Overall I enjoyed the storyline but I don’t think I fully appreciated it as I could not get in to the older style of writing. However, if you can get past that then you will definitely enjoy this!

This is the first book in the Mr Finchley series that was originally published in the 1930's.

I liked this but didn't love it as I found the story quite forgottable. I do have the next two instalments on my Netgalley shelf and will definitely be picking them up.

I was not able to continue with this book. It wasn’t right for me. The tone was off, the book was unlikeable

This is a mild, gentle, good-natured treat. Have a bit of a picaresque walk-about with an apparently timid, (but actually rather adventuresome), middle aged Englishman. This is an entirely engaging romp from the 30's and remarkably fresh and appealing despite its age and deceptive simplicity.

This book goes on so many adventures it’s almost too astonishing to believe it’s Mr FInch,!
Our vision / first impressions of MR FInch are that he is boring and has to do things in a certain way,fussy and pinickity and snobby. He does however show us his British stiff upper lip and how to deal with things in what we soon see is his own amazing way!
An absolutely suave character and a delightful start to this series of Mr Finch Books.
It is a brilliant distraction for a couple of hours and indeed a totally different read than anything I have come across recently.

Thank you to the author Victo Canning, the publisher, and NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for my candid review.

What an utterly charming book. It is the story of a middle-aged, fussy, clerk who is going on a proper 3 week vacation for the first time. Except that it does not turn out in the neat, orderly way that he expected. It is an adventure, meeting many new and interesting characters along the way, and a tale of discovery. Mr. Finchley discovers that he is not the boring old coot that he thought he was and actually realizes that he is brave, adventurous and interesting.

It is an innocent, entertaining adventure about discovering England and yourself.

A thoroughly delightful story. Well-written gallop through 1930's England in the company of a man who is taken out of his comfort zone into a series of adventures. The gentle humour in this book made it a classic at the time and a classic to this day.

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in return for a fair and honest review.
Mr. Finchley is a quiet boring man who is living a quiet, boring life. When his holiday goes astray he becomes involved in a number of amusing adventures that bring out the best in him. A good read.

I am always up for trying a reprint of older books, preferably mysteries but I sometimes succumb to interesting-sounding books of other genres. This was one of those latter forays that turned out to be an interesting read.
In this first installment, we are introduced to Mr. Edgar Finchley,  who has been forced to take the first vacation in his life. He decides to go the normal route and has a booking in a normal holidaying spot all set for him when the most absurd thing happens to him. He gets tangled up in one adventure that drags him farther and farther away from his ideal vacation. But his ideals are in the process of changing. A chance meeting with another traveler gives him yet another diversion to branch out on and off he goes. The man at the end of the book is no longer the 'ordinary' 45-year old who wanted to just take a holiday.

This has to be read leisurely because he meets so many random characters and such strange misfortunes seem to befall him. It gives a view into this time which straddled the time between the old and the world we know today with the lifestyles we have now. I was pleased to meet all the people and even more pleased with the last few chapters. Since I liked the next two books a little better than this one, I had to rate it three stars.

What a quaint story. Set in the more innocent times of 1934, it tells the tale of how best laid plans can turn upside down, suddenly leaving you with the freedom of having no plans and letting the universe take you where it will.
We are taken on Edgars Finchley's travels around the English countryside. He happens across the most oddball people who tell him tales and take him on adventures, before he returns to the road on a mission to get to Margate for his three week annual leave where he had tame and relaxing plans.
Instead he is taken on a roller coaster ride of car thefts, being taken hostage, having tea with gypsies, working as a fun fair attendant, being mistaken for a mental patient as well as scraps and fights with tramps along the way..
I am almost envious of the time he has.....freedom of having no plans in a time where you felt relatively safe to meander around and interact with all sorts of people.
This book made me smile and chuckle and roll my eyes at the joy and delights of those halcyon days of pure happiness and escapism.

Mr Finchley Discovers His England is the first book in a trilogy written by Victor Canning. Originally published in 1934, this reformat and re-release 18th April 2019 from Farrago is 214 pages and available in ebook format.

Despite being quite a prolific and well known author in his time, Canning has been somewhat forgotten. It's nice to see his works being reformatted and presented to a new generation of readers. This is a bucolic humorous romp with farcical overtones. It predates Thurber's Walter Mitty by 5 years but the two remind me of one another in some ways.

There is no murder, and no mystery, just a little mayhem and comedy of errors. The language is clean and despite being a product of 1934, surprisingly free of racism. I was also impressed at how little dated the narrative was. It reads perfectly well in 2019. The idiom is British (baggage (dishonest woman), fags (cigarettes), torch (flashlight), etc). The writing will not be problematic for most, especially fans of golden age British fiction from the interwar period.

I really enjoyed it and found it a diverting read. I like seeing these nostalgic gems being released into print again for new generations of readers.

Four stars.

This book follows the adventures of the charming Mr. Finchley. He is a buttoned up solicitor’s clerk from London who is on his first vacation in years. Originally published in 1934, the book definitely reflects that in its language. Mr. Finchley meets many characters along the way and gets into all sorts of trouble. Readers will enjoy this book if they are looking for a light and cozy read about fun adventures.

Unfortunately, I decided to not finish the book after getting just short of half way. It was a smidge tedious for me.

I have this book 3 stars - a middle score. This was a very different read for me. It took me some time to get into it.

It has a sort of early 20th Century feel about it, something of the Jeeves and Wooster . Once I decided to stick with it I started to really enjoy it. It captures the Downton/ Upstairs Downstairs/ Brideshead eras perfectly.

Mr Finchley is a member of the clerical white collar class that American's seem to think abide in the UK, and I'm not entirely sure ever really existed. He knows his place and how to conform.

During his holiday things happen to Mr Finchley that he could never have anticipated or imagined, and so his rebirth as a much more free spirited individual begins.

I think the book was written with it's tongue very firmly in it's cheek, and it certainly made me smile at times. I felt it was a refreshing change, without being too overbearing.

Written in a innocent time in England when doors could be left unlocked, with the thought of theft unheard of this is a gentle story with amusing characters and is an easy read.

A lovely, whimsical tale of Mr Finchley who goes on his first holiday and ends up in many adventures, along with meeting the various eccentric characters who populate the countryside that Mr Finchley explores. It is a perfect piece of escapism and there is an underlying theme that many of the characters are following their own life path, away from the expected life. Maybe something we could do more of and be more like Mr Finchley.