Barbara Buncle's dividends are down and finances are getting tight. Realizing that she must do something to bring in more income she briefly considers keeping hens or taking in boarders but neither seem very appealing. After a comment from her maid, Miss Buncle decides to write a book. The only problem is that she is not a writer and does not know how to write about things she does not know. Miss Buncle's quiet little English village of Silverstream is therefor turned into the village of Cooperfield and the residents of Silverstream become thinly veiled characters in Miss Buncle's book, Disturber of the Peace. The family of author Stevenson was well known as engineers and writers. Among the other pursuits, author Stevenson liked to play golf and a few other outdoor games. Her skills as a golfer were so great that she was in consideration for the Ladies Golf Team of Scotland. In the year 1913, she played her debut season in Edinburgh and in the year 1915, she was able to publish her first poetry book. Due to the World War, she had to change the focus of her life and married a family friend named James Reid Peploe. This was the first book I read by D.E. Stevenson and it is PERFECTION. The enormous satisfaction / entertainment value was the same on reading it for the 2nd time.

The Amberwell books link closely to Still Glides the Stream which in turn ties in with the Sarah books, in that Will and Sarah both visit Nivennes and meet with the Delormes family, although their visits are many years apart. What I loved: The characters were lovable, funny and real to life. (no, they weren't all lovable, but most were) The story was fairly fast and the switch between Silversteam and Copperfield was refreshing. I'd recommend this to about everyone! It's not only worth reading but, it's also worth the reread. And that ending! The ending was probably my favorite part about this book, I wouldn't have seen it coming in a million years I know it is ridiculous to grimace because it is a happily ever after and certainly I'm happy she appears so happy. But I'm also a little disappointed too because our delightful authoress is no more and I am spinster myself enough to find her defection from the ranks disheartening! Miss Buncle’s Book is about Miss Buncle, a woman who falls upon hard economic times and decides to write her way out of them. Miss Buncle writes a book titled Disturber of the Peace about a small English village called Copperfield. She publishes it under the name “John Smith.” She fills this imaginary village with characters who are quite settled in their rather humdrum lives until a piper comes to town and sets an enchantment upon it. Suddenly everyone in Copperfield begins seeing life in a whole new way – two women run off to Samarkand together, a confirmed bachelor proposes to his neighbor, an abused wife leaves her husband for another man, etc. This is Book 2 in D.E. Stevenson's "Miss Buncle" Series and while it is not as brilliant as the unsurpassable Miss Buncle's Book, it is still awesome.Divorced From Reality, 1935 (alternate title: Miss Dean's Dilemma; republished in 1966 as The Young Clementina) Then she finishes her book, sends it off and receives a reply that her book has been excepted. Awed by this Miss. Buncle can hardly believe it, not even when the publisher wishes to see her. This is Stevenson at her best, funny and satirical and kind. This was the first book of hers I'd read and it was far cleverer and more humorous than I expected. And despite being very approachable, the prose is also amazingly controlled. Stevenson can be very subtle. Miss Buncle is more observant than she herself is aware, and the gap between the things she writes and says and her understanding of their implications provides some of the funniest and most insightful moments. La historia se centra en el personaje de Barbara Buncle, una mujer que decide enviar un manuscrito de una novela escrito por ella bajo el seudónimo “John Smith”. Lo hace de esta manera porque cuenta los entresijos de un pueblecito inglés y de sus personajes basándose en los habitantes reales de su alrededor. El libro se publica, es un gran éxito y obviamente todo el mundo tiene algo que decir acerca de este pues causa mucho malestar general.

a b c d e f g h i Smith, Mary (April 2011), Photography by Phil Rigby, "STAYING POWER: Almost 40 years after her death, the author DE Stevenson is still so popular that fans from across the world are coming to Moffat for the re-issue of one of her books" (PDF), Dumbfries & Galloway Life, pp.102–103I've got some GR friends who are Stevenson fans, and finally, after reading this book, I feel like I really understand their love for her novels. Written in 1936 and set in about that same time, Miss Buncle's Book captures the charm of life in a small English town and the various characters who live there, with all their foibles. The only problem is, most of the inhabitants of Silverstream recognize themselves in the fictional town of Copperfield. Some think the book is great fun. Others are offended at the way they are portrayed or at their secrets coming out. Everyone agrees that “John Smith” must live among them—how else would he know them so well? So the hunt is on. It was all about loving your neighbour, and how you must seek out the good in people and only see the good. Mr Hathaway (the vicar) said that the way to make people good- by refusing to see the evil. Barbara wondered if this were true, and, if so, how deep it went. If you refused to see the evil in a murderer, did that cure him? Doubtful. a b c "Mrs. Tim of the Regiment: A Novel". Bloomsbury Publishing. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc . Retrieved 29 January 2017.

Another recurring character is the author Janetta Walters, whose light romantic novels are either loved or loathed by Stevenson characters. Her books in are mentioned in Mrs. Tim Carries On and Spring Magic. She appears in person in The Two Mrs. Abbotts and The Four Graces.a b Bannon, Alan (2 August 2016). "Commemorative Plaque due to be mounted on Stan Laurel's Glasgow home" (Press release). Historic Environment Scotland . Retrieved 29 January 2017. Barbara herself gets lost in her thoughts sometimes as to whether she’s in Silverstream or Copperfield. Her counterpart in the book, Elisabeth Wade, is much more confident. So Barbara begins to act as Elisabeth Wade. Having, by her own assessment, no imagination, Miss Buncle decides to simply record the daily life of her small town, changing her neighbors' names but otherwise portraying them faithfully. Hey, what's the chance of any of them ever reading it, right? To make it more interesting, she adds in some adventures, romances and travels for people she likes and punishments and embarrassments for those she doesn't (desertion for the local abusive husband, for instance). D.E. Stevenson was a prolific and beloved writer who lived from 1892 – 1973, though her first book was published in 1923. She wrote character-centered books like the Mrs. Tim series – a series that I have read dozens of times in a state of hypnotized bliss despite the fact that nothing much happens in it. She also wrote more dramatic romances and mysteries, such as Smoldering Fire and The Young Clementina. If there’s one single book that our family loves more than any other D.E. Stevenson book, it’s the gently hilarious Miss Buncle’s Book, which was originally published in 1934 . DE Stevenson had an enormously successful writing career: between 1923 and 1970, four million copies of her books were sold in Britain and three million in the States. Like EF Benson, Ann Bridge, O Douglas or Dorothy L Sayers (to name but a few) her books are funny, intensely readable, engaging and dependable. Miss Buncle’s Book was the most popular of her novels because it has a completely original plot and a charming and delightful central character.

Barbara Buncle is in a bind. Times are harsh, and Barbara's bank account has seen better days. Maybe she could sell a novel ... if she knew any stories. Stumped for ideas, Barbara draws inspiration from her fellow residents of Silverstream, the little English village she knows inside and out. In Miss Buncle’s Book, Barbara Buncle is a single lady in her thirties. Due to a dwindling income, she decides to write a book to try to earn some extra money. She doesn’t have any imagination, she insists, so she writes what she knows–her neighbors in the town of Silverstream. She changes their names and has them interact in different ways. She sends the manuscript in under the pseudonym John Smith. Writing a book? She doesn’t think her books can be exciting - life in Silverstream is rather dull and I can only write about what I know. At least I can only write about people that I know. I can make them do things, of course. She explained, somewhat incoherently, that the character of Mrs Horsley Downs was a horrible character and not in the least like her, but that it was obviously intended for her, because it was exactly like her, and that therefore it was liable and as such ought to be punished to the utmost rigour of the law. It even gets a little meta, as art imitates life imitates art. In Miss Buncle's book, a mysterious boy piper passes through town and his pipe inspires the townspeople to various acts of passion and adventure. Colonel Weatherhead reads the book and, vaguely inspired by Major Waterfoot's dashing and romantic proposal to Mrs. Mildmay, visits his friend, the widowed Mrs. Bold, and suddenly finds himself proposing marriage to her ... and then tries to make sure she doesn't read the book, or talk too much to anyone who has, before he sweeps her away, for fear that she might change her mind when she realizes where his motivation came from. And so it goes. Meanwhile, Barbara Buncle is trying to write a sequel, while nervously hiding her authorship of Disturber of the Peace from all of her irate neighbors, and is going through a bit of a Cinderella experience in her own life.After the successes & trials of Barbara Buncle as an overlooked spinster suddenly turning to a very successful author-in-disguise, we meet her again, happily married to her, but not that happily settled with, her publisher, Arthur Abbott in London.