Love Among the Chickens by P. G. Wodehouse
23 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 4 years ago - ★★★★★ - 8 ratingsA young, but not too brilliant writer is conscripted by a ne'er-do-well friend to help out on a chicken farm in remote Dorset. While traveling to the country, the writer encounters a lovely young girl and her academician father on the train. He is delighted to discover that she is reading a copy of his latest book. In the countryside, he also discovers that the professor and his daughter are neighbors. However, over dinner one night, he gets into an acrimonious debate with the elderly scholar who storms out, furious with his daughter's potential suitor. Meanwhile the chicken farm seems to be a doomed enterprise...
All this and other zany events form the delightful plot of Love Among the Chickens by PG Wodehouse. Published in 1906 in England and also serialized in the Circle magazine, it was revised and rewritten several times by the author himself. He changed the narrative viewpoint, the ending and the dedication several times before finally settling on this version. It was also the first Wodehouse book to be independently published in the United States.
Love Among the Chickens is notable for being the first novel for adult readers written by the master humorist. It also introduces the insufferable Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge, schemer, egomaniac and supreme opportunist. This character features in many of Wodehouse's short stories and though he never reached the heights of popularity that others like Jeeves, Wooster and the Blandings set did, Wodehouse himself confessed a sneaking fondness for this slippery villain. Based on a real character whom Wodehouse knew well, and in fact dedicated Love Among the Chickens to, Ukridge features in more than 18 short stories about himself and several more which are about other denizens of Wodehouse's inimitable world. However, Love Among the Chickens is the only full length book the obnoxious Ukridge appears in.
Wodehouse fans will be charmed as usual with his impeccable plotting, faultless sense of timing and the wonderful world of afternoon teas and eccentric aunts. Another quality that makes his works so attractive is the brilliant use of the English language and how he bends it to evoke both delighted chuckles and gusts of laughter. Few may know that Wodehouse, in spite of his lighthearted themes and plots, was a perfectionist when it came to his craft. He is famous for his detailed construction and development of plot lines and character study. He was also an extremely prolific writer, but naïve when it came to finance, politics and government regulations.
Love Among the Chickens is indeed a most entertaining and madcap adventure, great for readers of all ages.
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Episodes
01 – A Letter With a Postscript
January 02, 2024 00:00 - 7 minutes - 2.86 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
02 – Mr. and Mrs. S.F. Ukridge
January 01, 2024 00:00 - 16 minutes - 6.68 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
03 – Waterloo Station, Some Fellow-Travellers, and a Girl with Brown Hair
December 31, 2023 00:00 - 13 minutes - 5.72 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
06 – Mr. Garnet’s Narrative – Has to do with a Reunion
December 28, 2023 00:00 - 13 minutes - 5.72 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
07 – The Entente Cordiale is Sealed
December 27, 2023 00:00 - 15 minutes - 6.68 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
08 – A Little Dinner at Ukridge’s
December 26, 2023 00:00 - 17 minutes - 7.63 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
10 – I Enlist the Services of a Minion
December 24, 2023 00:00 - 20 minutes - 8.58 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
11 – The Brave Preserver
December 23, 2023 00:00 - 14 minutes - 5.72 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
12 – Some Emotions and Yellow Lupin
December 22, 2023 00:00 - 16 minutes - 6.68 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
13 – Tea and Tennis
December 21, 2023 00:00 - 15 minutes - 6.68 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
14 – A Council of War
December 20, 2023 00:00 - 18 minutes - 7.63 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
15 – The Arrival of Nemesis
December 19, 2023 00:00 - 17 minutes - 7.63 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
16 – A Chance Meeting
December 18, 2023 00:00 - 15 minutes - 6.68 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
17 – Of A Sentimental Nature
December 17, 2023 00:00 - 10 minutes - 4.77 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
18 – Ukridge Gives Me Advice
December 16, 2023 00:00 - 21 minutes - 9.54 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
20 – Scientific Golf
December 14, 2023 00:00 - 20 minutes - 8.58 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
21 – The Calm Before the Storm
December 13, 2023 00:00 - 11 minutes - 4.77 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
22 – The Storm Breaks
December 12, 2023 00:00 - 20 minutes - 8.58 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com
23 – After the Storm
December 11, 2023 00:00 - 14 minutes - 5.72 MBMore great books at LoyalBooks.com