Description

A Damsel in Distress is a madcap adventure whose comic twists and turns could only have come from the zany imagination of P.G. Wodehouse. Respectable George Bevan is minding his own business, zooming down the street in a taxi, when out of nowhere, lovely Maud Marsh jumps into the car with him, begging for his help. As George recovers from his shock, Maud's sad plight comes to light. Her pushy Aunt Caroline is adamant that Maud marry her step-cousin Reggie. Maud, however, is in love with another man—an American. She is desperate to escape her aunt's meddlesome ways and reunite with the man she loves. George is moved by Maud's tragic tale and chivalrously offers to aid the hapless damsel. As we soon find, however, no good deed goes unpunished. Mistaken identities, hilarious run-ins with high-tempered relatives, and all manner of shenanigans come George's way before we can reach the exciting conclusion of this wacky romantic comedy.

About the Author

Pelham Grenville Wodehouse (1881-1975) was born in Hong Kong to British parents. As a child, he returned to England with his family but spent several lonely years away from home at boarding school. Wodehouse was a passionate writer from early on but was unable to pursue his education at university due to his family's tight budget. Instead, Wodehouse was forced to choose a practical job as a banker, although he did not enjoy a second of it. He left his banking position to write features for British newspapers, and after finding success as a columnist, eventually moved to New York and began writing for American magazines. Wodehouse's talents as a writer brought him into the entertainment industry, where he wrote scripts, screenplays, and lyrics for some of the day's most famous Broadway shows and for early Hollywood films. After beginning to publish his first novels and short stories, Wodehouse settled into a career as an author. His success was followed by difficult times during the Second World War, when, while living in France, Wodehouse was arrested by occupying German forces and imprisoned for a year in a dismal internment camp. After the war, Wodehouse eventually moved back to New York, where he would remain for the rest of his life. Beloved for his entertaining characters and plots, Wodehouse is perhaps best-known as the creator of the Jeeves and Wooster novels, as well as a host of light-hearted and hilarious stories about the comic trials and tribulations of the well-to-do.

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Opening Lines (Experimental)

CHAPTER 1.
Inasmuch as the scene of this story is that historic pile, Belpher Castle, in the county of Hampshire, it would be an agreeable task to open it with a leisurely description of the place, followed by some notes on the history of the Earls of Marshmoreton, who have owned it since the ...