Bassett

Stella Gibbons

• Publisher: Rare Treasure Editions
• Year: 2026
• Topic: Literature
• eBook ISBN:
  9798907331280
• Subtopic: Women in Fiction
• Index: Literature

''Bassett'' is a witty and charming 1933 novel by Stella Gibbons. It was her second novel, published as a follow-up to fulfill a publisher contract after the explosive success of her famous 1932 comedy satire, Cold Comfort Farm. Set in the Buckinghamshire countryside, the novel cleverly intertwines the lives of two distinct groups of characters: The Spinsters -- Miss Hilda Baker is a sharp, practical, cockney Londoner who loses her pattern-cutting office job. She decides to invest her life savings with Miss Padsoe, a gentle but eccentric, "balmy" country spinster. Despite being deeply divided by age, class, and temperament, the two women partner up to transform Miss Padsoe's country home into The Tower Guesthouse. They start out determined to dislike each other but are forced to rely on one another—especially after dealing with bullying servants. The Lovers -- Down the road lives a well-off family consisting of George, his sister Isabella, and their mother. When the mother hires a young woman named Queenie as a companion, a mismatched and tumultuous love affair sparks between George and Queenie, mirroring the friction and bonding happening at the guesthouse. While less aggressively satirical than Cold Comfort Farm, Bassett features Gibbons's signature barbed humor, sharp social observations, and warm insight into human relationships. The book explores how shared hardships can bridge social classes, ultimately celebrating the heart of unlikely friendship and what unites us.

Table of contents

• PART ONE
• PART TWO
• PART THREE