A highly entertaining read. I enjoyed all humor and unexpected adventures of Mr Finchley. This book was written in the 30s and by all means the content and writing are dated somewhat. However, unlike other fiction from the same period, "Mr Finchley Discovers His England" is not a difficult read at all! Cosy, funny and entertaining. Hidden gem like this book deserves a revival!

A light hearted book set in more innocent times where Mr Finchley, a solicitor who has never taken a holiday sets off for 3 weeks in Margate. Things go wrong from the start - op perhaps not - as Mr Finchley gets involved in a series of escapades none of which involve Margate at all. An enjoyable book with humour and likeable rogues. Ideal for undemanding holiday reading.

Edgar Finchley, a clerk in a law firm, has not had a vacation in ten years when his new boss surprises him with a three week holiday. This mild-mannered, middle aged bachelor anticipates trading his typical, longstanding daily schedule for a different holiday routine, but is surprised to find himself wrapped up in a series of adventures.

Victor Canning’s Mr. Finchley Discovers His England was originally published in 1934 before WWII when the author was twenty-three. A best seller upon publication, it is a humorous work reflective of a more innocent time and makes a fun read. I enjoyed all of Finchley’s exploits. Despite the light-hearted nature of the book, the character of Finchley develops as he finds courage and flexibility he never knew he had. This book is full of well written, vivid descriptions and many British terms. I enjoyed learning words such as “roach” (a type of fish) and “rean” (a varian of reen, an irrigation ditch). Mr. Finchley Discovers His England is a delight to those who enjoy an author who can craft superlative descriptions and has an extensive vocabulary.

I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Ferrago for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

So glad this series is being brought back - it is such a joy to read! Loved the character and his adventures! A bit dated but that made it more fun - looking forward to reading the rest of Mr Finchley's adventures!

Mr. Finchley Discovers His England (1936/1972/2013/2018)
By Victor Canning
Macmillan, 260 pages.
★★★


First things first: You will notice numerous publication dates for a work I read this spring as a “new” e-book. This makes more sense if you’re British. Mr. Finchley Discovers His England (1936) was the first of three comedic novels penned by Victor Canning (1911-86). It’s a whimsical tale of a bachelor clerk in a London solicitor’s office forced by a new boss to take his first holiday. It became an overnight sensation that allowed Canning to quit his own clerkship and become a fulltime writer*.

The second thing that will help you appreciate Canning’s novel is to locate it in its own time period and circumstances. Holidays were not a given in the early 1930s, and 45-year-old Edgar Finchley had never taken one under his old boss. Finchley knew little of England beyond London’s metropolitan limits. As Brits had been doing for several hundred years, Finchley’s abstract idea of a vacation was to book a hotel in the faded Kent seaside resort of Margate in Kent–some 80 miles distant. To put it in contemporary terms, it’s the equivalent of a middle-aged man from Trenton taking his first vacation in Atlantic City.

Finchley never made it to Margate. At the rail station he is asked to watch someone’s fancy “motor,” as automobiles were often called in the days in which they were still relatively new. Finchley crawls into the backseat, falls asleep, and awakes to find that he has been spirited away by a thief. It would be the first of several zany mishaps to befall Finchley, many of which involved the fact that a tweed-covered bald man carrying a rucksack and wearing city shoes is not exactly prepared to trudge across moors, fall into ditches, sleep in haystacks, scramble over stone walls, or plunge through nettles. Along a zigzag journey that will eventually take him across Devonshire, Finchley befriends or battles with farmers, gypsies, con men, an itinerant artist, orphans, a street band, a self-proclaimed philosopher, a lunatic, snooty elites, and a smuggler.

You also need to know that the times were somewhat gentler, the recent war (World War I) notwithstanding. Even gun-toting thieves were polite, police were respected, gender roles were prescribed, much of the population was peripatetic, and residents in the countryside routinely took in scruffy strangers in need of a meal and/or bed. It was also a time in which rural roads were such that if cyclists wanted to get away from someone chasing them in van, they could reverse direction and get a half mile lead before the van could turn around and gain on them.

All of this is to say that Canning’s breakthrough novel has a quaint throwback charm for modern readers. To experience that charm one must surrender to it rather than filtering it through today’s realities. It’s almost enough to make one lapse into romantic dreams of “simpler” times. Key word: almost. It’s doubtful that today’s readers will admire Canning’s (non) structure. What we read is a series of vignettes disguised as a novel. Some have compared the Mr. Finchley books to comedian Rowan Atkinson’s Mr. Bean series. It’s a decent comparison, as both characters are basically nebbish innocents overcome by events. To this I would add that Michael Palin’s “Cycling Tour of Cornwall” sketch for Monty Python owes a debt to Canning. I don’t know this for certain, but Palin’s character name of Mr. Pither might be a wink to those who know that Canning originally called his character “Pitchley.” In any event, Pither’s encounter with rural England is similarly fraught with misfortune.

To move from the speculative to the literary, the Mr. Bean and Monty Python analogies work as they call attention to the fact that the Mr. Finchley “novels” are actually disconnected sketches basted together loosely. Many Brits actually know the Finchley books as an individual BBC Radio programs that aired in the 1980s and were revived in 2005. As we see, the Finchley novels also enjoy frequent revival. The moral, I suppose, is that charm, innocence, and frothy frolick transcend time. It would be too much to rank Mr. Finchley–or Mr. Bean for that matter–among the classic works of 20th century humor, but it won’t hurt anyone to take an unexpected detour now and then.

Rob Weir


*In the British legal system, a solicitor generally handles civil cases, whereas more prestigious barristers argue cases in court. A “holiday” is what North Americans call a vacation. Canning spent most of his life in Devonshire near the port city of Plymouth. He was born to working class parents and, though he qualified for Oxford University, there was no money for such an extravagance and he became a clerk at the age of 16. He is perhaps better known in North American for creating the Rex Carver detective series.

A nostalgic and enjoyable read of life in times gone by. Mr Finchley takes off around England, and the descriptions of the country of this period are heartwarming and cosy. An enjoyable story keeps you reading.

The Holiday

Imagine Christopher Robin grown into a rather stodgy middle-aged man, absent Pooh, suddenly rediscovering the world through his childhood eyes. That world would have been England, between the wars, when it was not uncommon for someone to take a bicycle holiday and explore the countryside. Written with a gentle sense of humor, this tale presents a coming-of-age, but from an entirely different perspective. Venture forth with Mr Finchley as he discovers the delights of unplanned encounters and the beauties of his own country.

What a lovely, easy, charming read. If you're looking for a light-hearted, fun book to get lost in for a short while this is the one for you.

I was looking for something nice and easygoing to read when I spotted this on Netgalley, and was very happy to be approved for a copy. Originally written in the 1930's, I would like to share a note from the publisher which is at the back of the book;
"Written in a far more innocent time, the early novels of Victor Canning are ones where you know everything is going to turn out fine"
in other words - exactly what I needed when I started reading.
While reading this book I was reminded of books like The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out A Window and Disappeared and The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. In essence a man travels around England and gets into all sorts of capers.
I understand this type of book might not be to everybody's taste. It is almost too innocent in it's approach, but I absolutely adored it. I loved Mr. Finchley and the situations he found himself in were highly entertaining. While we don't get to spend too much time with the supporting cast due to the nature of the story, I thought they were brilliantly written.
The story is well paced, and the plot develops brilliantly. Mr. Finchley develops in a very interesting way throughout the story. While I wasn't really bursting out laughing like I have with some other humorous titles I have read lately, I had a permanent smile on my face while reading this one (even during some of the hairier moments).
Overall, this was a perfect read when I needed a pick me up - and it was a very easy read. Perfect for the poolside or during a trip. It isn't overly long either, as it clocks in at just over 200 pages.
I highly recommend to anyone looking for a light read. I'm certainly going to look at reading more by the author.

I loved the writing in this book, it was lighthearted and took me on a delightful trip through 'little England'. As it was written in the 1930s, don't expect an adrenaline fuelled trip of hilarious mishaps, more a gentle stroll with moments of entertaining silliness that takes you away from the madness of the world we currently inhabit.

This was such a whimsical jaunt through England. Mr. Finchley was a great main character to follow around. The adventures he went through were fun/ny and so interesting. This was a nice read!

This book is a delight to read. Mr. Finchley is an unmarried middle aged man who has never vacationed and now must take one! His vacation turns into an adventure as he he meets a few curious characters and participates in activities that he would never have considered in his REGULAR life.
It is taking place in another time ( I found later this was actually written in the 1930"s), but still resonates with a wonderful charm and innocence of a time when you could trust your fellow man.
Makes me want to hop on a bike and go where I end up!!! Alas, this is not possible these days.

Editor’s note: The following review was published May 14 in the (Boone, N.C.) Mountain Times at https://www.wataugademocrat.com/mountaintimes/columns/book_reviews/spring-into-summer-early-picks-for-a-season-of-literary/article_c78a2823-2035-5949-9e26-f9ed3ea3b5eb.html


Because it’s never too early to prime the pump for your summer reading, publishing houses have a habit of releasing some of their best and most anticipated books in the days and weeks immediately preceding Memorial Day.

This year, a few of those titles have found their way onto our “can’t miss” list. Within the books listed here, you’ll find a bit of something for almost every reader, from young adult to seasoned bibliophile. They’re all page turners and cover a gamut of genres. Even better, they’re all recent pubs that are available now in your favorite flavor — e-book, print or, except for our nonfiction selection, audio.

‘Run Away’ by Harlan Coben (Grand Central Publishing)

I’m convinced that Harlan Coben is more machine than man. There’s no other way to account for an author with 70 million books published in 43 languages who is the creator and executive producer for a Netflix television drama, who is currently filming a movie for Netflix based on one of his novels, was executive producer for a couple of French mini-TV series and who has won more literary awards than we have room to print here, including the Edgar Award, Shamus Award and Anthony Award — the first author to win all three.

In “Run Away,” Coben’s 31st novel, the author dissects a seemingly perfect nuclear family with a knife that cuts deep and thorough: drug abuse. Coben’s plot-driven novel puts you in a position where it’s not difficult to imagine what the dark roads you would travel to follow your own addicted daughter in order to bring her home. A wonderful reveal at the end builds with a handful of likable characters we’ll want to see more of.

‘The Eighth Sister’ by Robert Dugoni (Thomas & Mercer)

Robert Dugoni is my go-to author for just about anything. He writes unparalleled thrillers and suspense, and the occasional coming-of-age tale — often in combinations that can feel like a Grisham-Patterson-Coben concoction in just the right proportions.

“The Eighth Sister” introduces us to a new series starter character: former but now reactivated CIA case officer Charles Jenkins. The novel takes us deep into Russia’s underworld with Dugoni’s trademark and unpredictable twists and turns. Fans of the author’s Tracy Cosswhite series will welcome Jenkins into their libraries.
Fans of audio books will welcome Edoardo Ballerini’s superb narration of “The Eighth Sister," adding a depth of dimension to the novel.

And fans of Amazon’s immersion reading will welcome the price. Both the e-book and audio book are available free as of presstime in Prime Reading.

‘Atlas Alone: A Planetfall Novel’ by Emma Newman (Ace)

Like an unexpected letter from a long-lost friend, “Atlas Alone” arrived in my reviewer's mailbox early one April morning, and I opened it just as expectantly.

Emma Newman writes science fiction and fantasy from South West England, UK, and she does it extremely well. Another one-single-job-couldn’t-possibly-be-enough author, Newman is the co-creator of the Hugo Award-winning podcast “Tea and Jeopardy and counts among her diverse daily activities live action role playing and dress making.

“Atlas Alone” is Newman’s fourth sci-fi novel to join the Planetfall universe — a series of books that also read as standalones. Each of this novel’s predecessors — “Planetfall” (2015), “After Atlas” (2016) and “Before Mars” (2018) — are marked by strong lead characters whose inner- and outer-journeys are influenced by the semi-dystopian world around them.

In “Atlas Alone,” Newman channels Orson Scott Card’s “Ender’s Game” to craft a novel of vengeance as heroine Dee struggles to find those who ordered a nuclear strike, destroying the Earth. Alone, the answer to the riddle proves elusive — and calls into question not only her ability to trust others, but herself.

'Mr. Finchley Discovers His England' by Victor Canning (Farrago)

This first of three comic novels by Victor Canning is not a new book, but it was the author’s initial published novel, in 1934. Not yet old enough to be in the public domain, Farrago has reissued this charming gentleman-adventure novel along with its companions, “Mr. Finchley Goes to Paris” and “Mr. Finchley Takes the Road,” as e-books.
This first book about the 45-year-old unmarried solicitor’s clerk follows Finchley on his misadventures as he attempts to take his first-ever holiday, beginning with his abduction in the backseat of a Bentley. From here, the picaresque novel travels through a gentler and more refined time as we follow Finchley’s travails throughout an English countryside much slower-paced than today’s. Perfect reading for a “take a breath” break from the current state of the world, the Mr. Finchley novels, like D.E. Stevenson’s “Miss Buncle” series, are a welcome respite from a too-often cluttered literary landscape.

‘The Road to Healing: Civil Rights Reparations Story in Prince Edward County, Virginia’ by Ken Woodley (NewSouth Books)

As the only nonfiction pick on today’s reading list, Ken Woodley’s “The Road to Healing” is arguably the most important.

When Prince Edward County, Va., closed its public schools in 1959 as an act of resistance to the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling, the community’s family-owned newspaper, “The Farmville Herald,” led the fight to shutter the schools rather than integrate. Because of this, white students would continue their education in private schools, while black students would have no formal education until forced integration took place five years later.

Setting wrongs to right, in “The Road to Healing,” Woodley — a journalist for nearly four decades at “The Farmville Herald,” including 24 years as its editor — documents an insider’s story of his efforts to establish reparations in the form of state-funded scholarships for black students. Those efforts would come to a successful reality in 2004 in what were perhaps the first Civil Rights-era reparations in U.S. history.

The account of Woodley’s advocacy is told stirringly here as a reporter, and ultimately a community, struggle to understand and amend for past grievances. Few crusades are as well-documented as this telling of Woodley’s quest for justice.

I loved Mr Finchley. His boring holiday plans go amiss and he ends up spending his holiday travelling by foot throughout the Southeast of England. He meets some unbelievable characters and falls into lots of mischief along the way.

Mr Finchley Discovers His England by Victor Canning

The original book was published in 1934 and is now being reprinted.

I’m sorry to say I did not enjoy this story at all. Mr Finchley is 45 years old but is so naïve and child like you have no idea how he could have even survived for 45 years. I found the story to be very predictable and I’m sorry to say boring.

I would like to thank NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Mr. Finchley Discovers His England tells the story of how Mr. Finchley discovered himself while on traveling like a will-o-the-wisp through England. Edgar Finchley is an established bachelor clerk whose life has been structured around work and responsibility. But with a new manager, suddenly he has a three-week vacation, the first in ten years. He plans to go to Margate, but on the way there, he agrees to watch a brand new car for someone, gets bored, and falls asleep in the back seat. He wakes up when the wild driving dumps him on the floor only to discover the driver is a thief who has stolen the car.

From there he gets into one situation after another, some dangerous and others simply hilarious. I mean he actually gets chased by a bull. Along the way, he meets several rascals and scoundrels.

I enjoyed Mr. Finchley Discovers His England very much. His adventures are delightful and although there are moments of danger and risk, readers know by the number of pages left in the book that Mr. Finchley will be fine. The book is full of humour and misadventure. A great, light hearted read for all.

I received an advanced digital copy of this book from Netgalley.com and the publisher. Thanks to both for the opportunity to read and review.

Mr. Canning's books were originally printed in the 1930s. This reprint is a delight to read. Laugh out loud funny, exciting but not too exciting. Mr. Finchley finds himself in one predicament after another on his first proper holiday.

5 out of 5 stars. Highly recommended.

My thanks to NetGalley and Farrago Books for a digital review copy of this book.

First published in 1934, Mr Finchley Discovers His England is the first in a series of (I think) three books featuring Mr Finchley, a forty-five-year-old bachelor, who works as a solicitor’s clerk in London. When one of his bosses Mr Bardwell dies, and the office is taken over by his partner Mr Sprake, there comes an unexpected change in Mr Finchley’s life. For the first time since Mr Finchley was employed, he finds himself getting a three-week holiday. So of course, as holidays must usually be, he books himself into a hotel at Margate. But when he is waiting to catch his train, a man asks him to watch his Bentley, which Mr Finchley agrees to do but he falls asleep in the process. When his eyes next open, the car is being driven, away and Mr Finchley finds himself kidnapped. He is unnerved but decides to take the experience as an adventure, one he could have never had in his normal life. From here, he manages to make his escape. And with this starts a holiday completely unlike what Mr Finchley could have ever imagined. Mr Finchley traipses across the country, soaking in nature, meeting interesting people and having a series of unforeseen adventures. He falls in with tramps, artists, travellers, and gypsies, ends up taking jobs at a fair and selling petrol, being mistaken for a vagrant and a lunatic, is almost strangled, plays cricket and even takes to smuggling! His adventures change his life completely, so much so that there is likely to be a change in his everyday life too.

This was such a fun, charming read, with gentle humour and a very likeable set of characters. Something like Three Men in a Boat but without the slapstick. What I really liked about Mr Finchley as a character was how open he was to each new adventure, to each new experience, and how ready he was to enjoy every thing that came his way, irked sometimes (only initially), but never complaining or grumbling much, rather relishing every moment. The people he meets have interesting stories (unlike Mr Finchley’s own which is rather ordinary untill this adventure begins), some sad, some simply unusual, and while not all are honest and straightforward, they certainly are far from the ordinary. I also loved how away from grey London, Mr Finchley gets to really immerse himself in nature, whether it be the birds around, or the sea, or the moors, there is a certain peace about the places he spends time at which transfers itself to the reader as well. My first acquaintance with Mr Finchley and Victor Canning’s work was really delightful. Looking forward to more in the future.

The book was published on 18 April 2019!

Edgar Finchley is a middle-aged, middle class office worker in London who's about to take his first vacation (or Holiday, as the Brits say) to Margate.
But while minding someone's car, Finchley falls fast asleep in the back seat and is suddenly whisked away to a very, very different sort of vacation than he'd planned.
Once he's able to stop worrying about Margate, Finchley relaxes into a wondrous (and sometimes dangerous)) adventure across England.
This is a charming and delightful romp..

Quirky novel first in a long line of books, good read with fun English humour throughtout, i look forward to reading the rest.