If you want to see me at my grumpiest, send me on a camping holiday. This includes camper vans. So when a so-called friend convinced Edelgard and her husband Otto to go on holiday in England using rented caravans, I knew they were in for some unpleasant surprises. And Otto’s stuffy upper-crust breeding, staunch German classist attitudes, and military career were not going to help them one bit.

The Caravaners is written from Otto’s point of view, with an eye toward reading his holiday memoir later, for a gathering of friends. Elizabeth von Arnim satirizes him (and, well, probably all Germans) mercilessly. He starts out simply naive about this type of holiday, but things go from bad to worse as he interacts with the others in his party. Otto objects to pitching in with the many chores required to maintain their campsites. He objects to the rain (seriously?!), and looks down on his wife who is trying to make the best of things. Worse still, he believes he is getting on famously with the others. It is increasingly obvious to the reader that they are avoiding Otto at all costs while embracing his wife Edelgard. It’s just a matter of time before Otto gets his comeuppance, and it plays out beautifully.

Reading this book made me laugh out loud, both at the situations the party found themselves in, and Otto’s over the top hubris. The experience was similar to reading The Diary of a Provincial Lady but much more biting. And quite a lot of fun. ( )

This is a story of a married, aristocratic German couple. The Baron is the narrator of his caravaning holiday which he participates in rather than shares with among others, his wife Edelgard and two other couples. Von Arnim allows his didactic manner and pedantic patriarchial opinions to draw the reader into imagining a holiday very different from the one he experiences. The reader reaching conclusions above and beyond anything imaginable by the Baron himself .

It is true that there is much of von Arnim's gentle wit and humour on offer, but a whole story devoted to satirising the Baron was too much for me. ( )