discovered in CSUS library and reread this delightful account of plants, antiques, village life etc. in England shortly after WW II

Re-read, 2021: Enjoyed this just as much as the first time. Oddly struck in some of the chapters by the notion that this is like Winnie the Pooh but with humans. :D I think it's because the characters are so clearly "types," shown off in eccentric, endearing turns, and also because even the tensions and upsets in this lightly fictionalized world are never going to be permanent.

Touched to the heart by the final insight into Miss Mint's characterization. Just as I was the first time through.

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Original review follows:

There was so much to like in this one...the satirical portraits of the neighbors, the loving descriptions of cats and gardens, and the great chapter on discovering art. Still very Wodehousian, and more mellow and kind than the first book of his I read.
These books feel like memoirs or biography while you're reading them, and they are evidently based on the author's real experiences, but they are lightly fictionalized from what I can tell. ( )

Laughter On The Stairs is the second book in the Merry Hall autobiographical trilogy. Written in post war England it chronicles the authors renovations of Merry Hall and village life.

I picked this 1953 first edition up without originally realising it was part of a trilogy and as such have not read the first Merry Hall book. Nonetheless, even alone this book is an enjoyable read and an interesting glimpse into what many people may consider an eccentric life.

Topics covered include a terrible stained glass window and the scheming to get rid of it, property fraud through well shenanigans, cats, flower shows and ghosts amongst other things.

Will be keeping an eye out for the first book now. ( )

I've already waxed rhapsodic about the first book in Beverley Nichols' Merry Hall trilogy (aptly titled Merry Hall) but I plan to be equally enthusiastic about this second book of the trilogy. This book focuses a bit more on the actual home that Nichols bought and its piecemeal restoration while the first detailed much of his fascination with bringing his gardens back to life. Like his previous book though, this is not nearly as boring as it sounds when I put it out there like this. It is a thoroughly delightful and entertaining book complete with more charming anecdotes about his eccentric neighbors, the previous owner whose taste was clearly egregious, and everyone else in Nichols' orbit. I truly wish I could have met Mr. Nichols (although he would likely have gently skewered me just as he does his other neighbors) and been a visitor to Merry Hall. I wouldn't even have asked for a cutting of his gorgeous flowers like his other much maligned, but fondly recalled nonetheless, female visitors. I truly don't know how to entice people to read these wonderfully witty and sly books since calling them garden books or estate books makes them seem far too tame and dull to do them any justice whatsoever. Suffice it to say, if you have any fondness for well-written, charm-laden non-fiction without event-driven narrative, you should read these. Even better if you happen to be a bit of an Anglophile. You can thank me later. ( )

Purchased in Oxford. Has author and publisher cards inside. Also photos of inside of house which appear to be hand pasted.
Look up at leisure for possible value. Show this too Dan. ( )