Big Money (by PG Wodehouse)

(Amazon UK link)

I started reading the ‘Jeeves and Wooster’ books by PG Wodehouse when I was about twelve or thirteen, and very much liked them. Over the years I have collected several of these, as well as Wodehouse novels about Blandings Castle, and - when I come across them - his other works too. I had no idea, until recently, just what a prolific writer he was.

So when I saw ‘Big Money’ on a church bookstall a few months ago, it was an easy decision to fork out my fifty cents. After abandoning quite an unpleasant book by a different author, I decided that this would make a good, light alternative. And so it proved to be.

The cast is quite extensive in this little novel, which is only 240 pages in paperback. But the main character is a young man known to his friends as Berry. He’s good-looking, strong, honest and kind-hearted. He’s also extremely impoverished, and so has taken a job as secretary to a millionaire called Mr Frisby.

We first meet Berry having lunch with his school friend Lord Biskerton, who is generally known as Biscuit. Lord Biskerton also lacks finances, but it doesn’t worry him; he owes several tradesmen, and keeps hoping that his luck will change.

Mr Frisby’s sister rings him from somewhere near New York to say that her niece Ann is going to visit, and needs a chaperone… and when Frisby asks Berry to sort it out, he recommends Biscuit’s Aunt Vera, who is also generally in need of money…

There are many other people in this story: Katherine, who met Ann on the ship coming to England, who lives next door to Berry; Berry’s old nurse, who wants him to wear vests and woollen socks; Biscuit’s father… and a few others, whom I’ve forgotten, including a few of dubious principle from the criminal classes. There are some swans, too, who frequently observe proceedings with supreme arrogance.

As for the story: Ann is persuaded to get engaged to Biscuit, but Berry falls for her and pretends to work for the Secret Service. Biscuit dons a disguise to try to fool his creditors, moves into an empty house adjoining Berry’s, and strikes up a friendship with Katherine….

It’s all written in the delightful Wodehouse style. He throws in quotations from classical and Scriptural passages, often out of context, to support a point; he also delves, from time to time, into an authorial viewpoint to explain something that might otherwise be even more confusing. He does it flawlessly, making for a very enjoyable light-hearted romp.

There’s another subplot too, involving mines and shares, with everyone - or so it seems - trying to trick everyone else. And there’s a kind of stick-up at the end, which becomes as much of a farce as the rest of the book so it’s amusing rather than stressful.

I won’t remember any of the characters in a day or two; they’re all exaggerated, not three-dimensional or even particularly warm. But I enjoyed the book while I was reading it, and am pleased to own another gem for my Wodehouse shelf.

Recommended if you want something light-hearted and like the somewhat satirical, sometimes ridiculous and decidedly class-conscious Wodehouse style of humour. I didn't laugh out loud, but I did smile more than once. It’s not Jeeves or even Blandings, and I wouldn't pay 'big money' for it... but it’s still an enjoyable light read.

Review copyright 2020 Sue's Book Reviews