It seems like I’m exhausting my local library’s supply of Wooster and Jeeve books, because it took me quite a while to find something I haven’t read. While I could always venture into a new series (if you have a non-Ukridge favourite, please let me know!), I wanted something I knew I would enjoy.

In Aunt’s Aren’t Gentlemen, poor Bertie is driven to the countryside after seeing a doctor for his spots. The doctor orders some fresh air and clean living, but as usual, Bertie fails to follow the doctor’s orders as he runs into an ex-flame, steals a cat, and has his life threatened by current lover of the ex-flame. All this because his Aunt Dahlia bet a large sum of money on a horse.

I found this to be a fairly quick but extremely humorous read. In this book, we have a character (Orlo) who’s a communist but works as an insurance salesman, and what happens while he’s using Bertie to hide from a policeman had me chuckling because it’s so relatable. This scene takes place just after Orlo and Bertie have caught up and talked about Vanessa, Orlo’s love who’s currently under arrest:

‘Where are you going?’

‘Harley Street, to see a doctor. I’ve got spots on my chest.’

The effect of this disclosure was rather remarkable. A keen go-getter look came into his face, and I could see that Orlo Porter the lover had been put in storage for the time being, his place taken by Orlo Porter the zealous employee of the London and Home Counties Insurance Company.

‘Spots?” he said.

‘Pink,’ I said.

‘Pink spots’, he said, ‘That’s serious. You’d better take out a policy with me.’

I reminded him that I had already done so. He shook his head.

‘Yes, yes, yes, but that was only for accidents. What you must have now is a life policy and most fortunately,’ he said, drawing papers from his pocket like a conjurer taking rabbits from a hat, ‘I happen to have one on me. Sign here, Wooster,’ he said, this time producing a fountain pen.

And such was his magnetism that I signed there.

I think most of us who know an insurance agent would empathise with Bertie! Although I hope that we wouldn’t be signing policies so easily.

With every Wooster and Jeeves book that I read, I have a new appreciation for how Wodehouse populated Bertie’s world with the connected characters, making it feel like these really are stories of Bertie’s life rather than unconnected stories featuring the same person. If you pay attention, you’ll notice references to characters in other books; not knowing them won’t diminish the enjoyment of Aunt’s Aren’t Gentlemen, but it is fun to think back to the other misadventures of Bertie.