Mr. Finchley Discovers His England (Mr Finchley)

by Victor Canning

The adventures of a middle-aged solicitor's clerk who takes a holiday for the first time in his life and finds himself in all kinds of unexpected situations, chased by the police, befriended by gypsies, mistaken for a homicidal lunatic, collecting for a band of street musicians, and at sea with a smuggler.

• ISBN10: 0330233963
• ISBN13: 9780330233965
• Publish Date: 1 December 1972
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 17 October 2003
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Pan Macmillan
• Imprint: Macmillan
• Edition: New edition
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 260
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Mr Finchley Discovers His England is the first book in a trilogy written by Victor Canning. Originally published in 1934, this reformat and re-release 18th April 2019 from Farrago is 214 pages and available in ebook format.

Despite being quite a prolific and well known author in his time, Canning has been somewhat forgotten. It's nice to see his works being reformatted and presented to a new generation of readers. This is a bucolic humorous romp with farcical overtones. It predates Thurber's Walter Mitty by 5 years but the two remind me of one another in some ways.

There is no murder, and no mystery, just a little mayhem and comedy of errors. The language is clean and despite being a product of 1934, surprisingly free of racism. I was also impressed at how little dated the narrative was. It reads perfectly well in 2019. The idiom is British (baggage (dishonest woman), fags (cigarettes), torch (flashlight), etc). The writing will not be problematic for most, especially fans of golden age British fiction from the interwar period.

I really enjoyed it and found it a diverting read. I like seeing these nostalgic gems being released into print again for new generations of readers.

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.