Parnassus on Wheels Book

This is an old-fashioned, sweet novella published in 1917, about a self-described "fat old woman" (she's only 39) who's never done anything but work as a governess and, later, cook and keep house for her bachelor brother, Andrew. Helen is content with her existence until her brother decides to start writing books about the joys of country life (he calls his first book Paradise Regained) and unexpectedly becomes a celebrity author. Suddenly he's a big "literary man," traveling around looking for inspiration for his next book, not helping around the farm, and taking Helen completely for granted. When Roger Mifflin, a short, little balding man with a red beard, drives up to her farmhouse in a horse-drawn wagon filled with books, wondering if her brother might be interested in buying Roger out so he can retire and write a book, that is just the last straw for Helen.

So she buys the book wagon herself.



Helen writes her brother a flippant good-bye note, and she and Roger take off in Parnassus, the name of the bookmobile. Roger intends to show Helen the ropes for a day and then leave, but it turns out he has a hard time leaving the itinerant bookseller lifestyle behind. Andrew is hopping mad about his sister's shenanigans and is doing his best to throw wrenches into the works. And is that a smidgen of romance in the air?

The story is told in a folksy voice. It's simple but filled with gentle humor, and with love for books, and life, and the life that books bring to us.A good book ought to have something simple about it. And, like Eve, it ought to come from somewhere near the third rib: there ought to be a heart beating in it. A story that's all forehead doesn't amount to much.Thanks to Dorcas (my source for many lovely old reads) for the heads up on this one! I love friends who find these obscure older books and review them on Goodreads, so I can go grab them for free on Gutenberg.org or somewhere, and read them myself.

Don't let my 3-star rating put you off if this old-fashioned kind of story sounds good to you. It's not a great novel, but it's a fun little blast from the past. Those are affectionate stars that I gave out here, even if there are only three of them.