Luckily, coincidences again merge to bring the almost magical Mrs Harris’s plans to glorious fruition, though not without some glorious glitches here and there.

Welcome to The Close - a beautiful street of mansions, where gorgeous Stella is the indisputable Queen Bee .Harris is determined to find him and end the torture that little 'enry is subjected to by his foster parents. I'd seen this all before (and, frankly, Mrs Harris in France, and that too in Dior, is much, much more a duck out of water than Mrs Harris in America, which is why it's also more satisfying). The two of them are invited by a wealthy couple in the movie business to move to America and keep house. Sharing the journey is a certain French diplomat whom Mrs Harris came to know well during her Paris stay. This, however, became a bit of an irony as I read because the entire time I kept imagining how much better the story must have worked on the big screen as opposed to the book.

On a side note–I have gotten atrociously behind in blog reading and have several weeks worth of posts to catch up with–but in case I miss anymore posts before your new journey begins–Have a great trip to NYC and I can’t wait to hear about your new adventures! In the film, they changed the storyline so that the help the charwoman brings about feels even more improbable. I'd read Mrs 'arris Goes to Paris last week, and I loved that so much, as soon as I finished it, I began this one.A light and completely impossible fairy tale is this one, though it touches upon some serious issues – child abuse, social class structure, discrimination, and the follies of celebrity worship.

Now I can see by the other reviews that most other readers manage to ignore the heart-wrenching part and find this book lovely, charming, heart-warming etc; all of these epithets apply, too, especially if you don't think that the ending is more important than the rest of the book. Both novellas are a little predictable and you could guess the outcome of the second one in particular after the first few chapters. Henry, a bright young lad, plays along most willingly, and his two sponsors get him on board and manage to keep his presence under wraps until mid-Atlantic, when it becomes apparent that getting the child off the boat at Ellis Island may prove something more of a challenge, what with stringent American customs and immigration officials examining every set of incoming papers with fine tooth combs and such. Oh, and there is the teasing promise of a love affair for our Mrs Harris, too, setting things up, no doubt, for book number three. Always kind, always cheery and always winsome, the indomitable Mrs Harris takes Paris by storm and learns one of life’s greatest lessons along the way.

ALMOST FINE BUT HAS A DEDICATION TO THE BACK OF THE FIRST FREE ENDPAPER AND THE TWO TOP CORNERS ARE A LITTLE BUMPED.

The recording took place on stage at the Festival Theatre, due to the restriction imposed as a result of the COVID 19 pandemic making it impossible to record in a studio, whereas the Festival Theatre stage was large enough to accommodate full cast and band, sufficiently distanced. Always interested in weddings, Mrs Harris gave these announcements more undivided attention, until she cam upon one which caused her little eyes almost to pop out of her head, and led her to emit a shriek, ‘Ruddy gor’blimey – it’s ‘im!Innocuous story from the late ‘50s that has me pondering the difference between characters vs caricatures in writing.