I really enjoyed Miss Buncle’s Book when I read it earlier this year, so when I chanced upon Miss Buncle Married, I immediately borrowed it (especially since Ami from luvtoread also recommended it as a fun read).

Miss Buncle Married takes place soon after the events of Miss Buncle’s Book. Since her identity as the author of the Copperfield books has been revealed, Miss Buncle and Dorcas had to suddenly leave the village they grew up in. Luckily, she married Mr. Abbott (her publisher) straight away and the two started their lives together. However, Mr. and Mrs. Abbott are tired of having to constantly go out and in an attempt to change their lives, they move to Wandlebury. There, Barbara starts to make friends and the hijinks start again.

This was such a lovely book. I was actually a bit worried that I would miss the characters from the first book but I didn’t notice their absence at all. D. E. Stevenson has populated Wandlebury with a fantastic cast of characters, including Jerry (the niece of the richest lady in town), Monkey (the local doctor and Mr. Abbott’s old friend), and the Marvells (an artist couple and their children). I really enjoyed reading about their interactions with Barbara as she made friends and misunderstood people. In particular, the way Barbara and Mr. Marvell misunderstood one another to become friends was very amusing.

I also enjoyed the more prominent role of Sam, Mr. Abbott’s nephew. He was a minor character in Miss Buncle’s Book, but he takes a much bigger role here and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I still don’t quite buy his love story but it was pretty sweet all the same.

There was only one moment which made me uncomfortable. After a lovely description of the English countryside, Barbara is described as having been “misdirected by a congenital idiot”. I’ve got to admit, it took me a while before I realised that this was probably the language of the times and that the author didn’t actually mean to speak disparagingly of this character. Apart from this one instance, there weren’t any passages where the language made me do a double-take.

Overall, this was a lovely book. It has all the humour and charm of the first book and I think I like the village characters here even better. I don’t know what the third book is going to be about, but I hope that the villagers in Wandlebury continue to make an appearance. In particular, I’d love to read more about what’s going on with the Marvell family.