Mr Finchley takes a fancy to a horse-drawn caravan that he sees for sale, but his new wife does not relish the prospect of a caravan journey so she goes to visit her brother, while he sets out to explore the countryside and go house-hunting.

While learning to handle the horse and the caravan, he encounters a variety of eccentrics and country characters, and several unsuitable houses. It gradually emerges that the caravan contains a secret, and Mr Finchley finds himself in real trouble - until his wife comes to the rescue.

This gentle comedy trilogy was a runaway bestseller on first publication in the 1930s and retains a timeless appeal today. It has been dramatized twice for BBC Radio, with the 1990 series regularly repeated.

Mr Finchley takes a house-hunting trip in a horse-drawn caravan - what else will he find along the way?

About the Author

Victor Canning was a prolific writer throughout his career, which began young: he had sold several short stories by the age of nineteen and his first novel, Mr Finchley Discovers His England (1934) was published when he was twenty-three. It proved to be a runaway bestseller. Canning also wrote for children: his trilogy The Runaways was adapted for US children's television. Canning's later thrillers were darker and more complex than his earlier work and received further critical acclaim.

Reviews

Praise for the Classic Canning Series

'Quite delightful, with an atmosphere of quiet contentment and humour that cannot fail to charm ... The longer we travel with Mr Finchley, the better we come to love him. He makes us share his bread and cheese, and beer and pipe. His delight at the beauties of the countryside and his mild astonishment at the strange ways of men are infectious' Daily Telegraph

'His gift of story-telling is obviously innate. Rarely does one come on so satisfying an amalgam of plot, characterisation and good writing' Punch

'A paean to the beauties of the English countryside and the lovable oddities of the English character... [Mr Finchley] runs into one astonishing situation after another, sticking gamely to his resolve that he must take things as they come and accept them' New York Times

'What counts for most in the story, as it did for Mr Finchley, is his mounting pleasure in vagabondage and the English scene' The Times

'There is such a gentle humour in the book ... Mr Finchley is the ideal Englishman' Daily Sketch

Book Information
ISBN 9781788421638
Author Victor Canning
Format Paperback
Page Count 256
Imprint Farrago
Publisher Duckworth Books