Salter, who has never stepped a foot outside London, and has the impression (shared by so many Londoners today!) that people from the countryside do nothing but drink pear cider and lean on gates. William thinks that he is going to be reprimanded for his sister mischievously exchanging ‘badger’ and ‘great crested grebe’ in his copy – which leads to a brilliant cross-purposes conversation with Mr. Who better to mire in the world of sensationalist foreign reporting?īefore he sets sail, there are my favourite scenes in the novel – where William Boot is meeting with an editor of the newspaper, Mr. Boot is an affable, quiet, honest young man (supposedly in his 20s, but he never comes across as younger than 45) who wants to live out his life in rural peace. Stitch (the novel opens with her multi-tasking – on the telephone, directing the painter, answering correspondence, doing a crossword, and helping her daughter with her homework at the same time) to get him sent out there, it is William Boot, writer of the rural matters column Lush Places, who is accidentally sent. Instead of the pushy young John Boot who’s been badgering the absolutely wonderful character Mrs. Boot being sent to the Republic of Ishmaelia by the Daily Beast. Unlike Decline and Fall, these misunderstandings are not malicious – but they end up with the wrong Mr.

Like Decline and Fall, Scoop opens with a series of coincidences and misunderstandings (unlikely, but not impossible) which propel the central plot. Well, Scoop continues in this vein – ridiculous and farcical things happen, people are mean and selfish, but always with a covering of good-humour – helped, chiefly, by the incredibly loveable lead character. I found the first couple too cruel for my liking, then thought The Loved One had the perfect mix of barbed wit and affection. This is my fourth Evelyn Waugh novel, and I still haven’t read Brideshead Revisited. But it’s great, and very funny, so better late than never, I’m getting my review specs on (they’re the same as my usual specs, by the way.) A few bloggers seem to have been reading Evelyn Waugh at the same time as each other – Rachel wrote about Decline and Fall and Ali wrote about Vile Bodies– only my review is coming rather belatedly, as I finished Scoop (1938) about a month ago.

Scoop by Evelyn Waugh