Vintage Teaser Tuesday: The Prince and Betty

Love comes to some gently, imperceptibly, creeping in as the tide, through unsuspected creeks and inlets, creeps on a sleeping man, until he wakes to find himself surrounded. But to others it comes as a wave, breaking on them, beating them down, whirling them away.

It was so with John.

*****

It seemed to her now that she must always have loved him, but it had been such a vague, gentle thing, this love, before that last meeting—hardly more than a pleasant accompaniment to her life, something to think about in idle moments, a help and a support when things were running crosswise. She had been so satisfied with it, so content to keep him a mere memory. It seemed so needless and wanton to destroy her illusion.

I marked so many lovely passages as I was reading this that I had to share two teasers, one each from the Prince's and Betty's points of view. I’d always been aware of P.G. Wodehouse, but I’d never read him before, and I never suspected he wrote romantic fiction. I was utterly charmed and smitten with The Prince and Betty by page four! The story begins when Betty's wealthy stepfather draws her into his latest scheme, a publicity stunt for his new casino on the Mediterranean island of Mervo. After hunting down the long-lost heir to the tiny kingdom, he's determined to marry him to Betty and create a royal family sure to draw celebrity-crazed tourists to the island. But he doesn't realize that his prince and his stepdaughter have a history together, and his well-laid plans are about to explode, sending Betty back to New York broken-hearted, with the prince following right behind, determined to win her back.

Wodehouse’s masterful prose, sparkling dialogue, and trademark sense of humor blend together in a story that is as funny as it is poignant; a story that’s both an entertaining romp and an exposition of human nature. The setting of New York in 1912 jumps off the pages as Wodehouse explores the contradictory nature of a city exploding with opportunity, progress, and entertainment, while hiding its prejudices and inequalities in rundown tenements and back alleys. In The Prince and Betty, P.G. Wodehouse throws together princes and newspapers and boxers and gangsters, wraps them all up in an honest and understated love story, and ties it all together in a surprising and supremely satisfying conclusion. A really fun read!

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Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read

Open to a random page

Share two teaser sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! Share the title & author, too, so that others can add the book to their TBR Lists!