Helpful Score: 4
Title: Parnassus on Wheels
Author: Christopher Morley
ISBN: 1879923017/Booksellers House
Protagonist: middle-aged Helen McGill
Setting: New England around 1910
Rating: A+
First Line: I wonder if there isn't a lot of bunkum in higher education?
There are a few days when the world seems to hang still in a dreaming, sweet hush, at the very fulness of the fruit before the decline sets in. I have no words (like Andrew) to describe it, but every autumn for years I have noticed it. I remember that sometimes at the farm I used to lean over the wood pile for a moment just before supper to watch those purple October sunsets. I would hear the sharp ting of Andrew's little typewriter bell as he was working in his study. And then I would try to swallow down within me the beauty and wistfulness of it all, and run back to mash the potatoes.
Such is the life of forty-year-old Helen McGill, a woman who began her working life as a governess. For the past several years, she's been on a New England farm, taking care of her brother, Andrew, who's become a successful writer. Andrew's begun to vex the pudding out of Helen. Now that he's famous, he thinks nothing of packing a bag and taking off for weeks at a time, leaving her all the work on the farm. Helen's had enough. The day Roger Mifflin appears, rolling up the drive in a homemade book wagon pulled by a fat old horse, she panics. Mifflin wants to get out of the book trade and return to Brooklyn to write his own book. From reading her brother Andrew's books, Mifflin feels that he is just the person that will buy his "Parnassus on Wheels". Helen agrees whole-heartedly. In fact, she can already see Andrew loading up the wagon and disappearing for months (instead of weeks) at a time. In a move to forestall Andrew, Helen buys the wagon, all the contents, the horse and the dog for $400--the money she's been saving to buy a Ford.
But something else grabs hold of Helen. She's never had a vacation. She's never even had a tiny little adventure. Thinking that it would serve Andrew right if she took off on her own jaunt, she packs a bag, climbs into Parnassus the wagon, and Mifflin takes her out on the road to show her how to survive in the traveling book trade.
In 1917, Morley, a lowly editor of the Doubleday, Page & Company of Long Island, was miffed because he was refused a raise. He started writing Parnassus on Wheels during spare moments. The book was accepted, and the print run of 1500 sold out. Nice, but not spectacular. What this 130-page book did was launch him into fame as a writer in the early twentieth century. I can see why. I think I had a smile plastered on my face the entire time I read this book. Morley has a cast of brilliant characters, especially Helen, and the autumn in New England setting was so well done that I felt as though I had my own seat on the book wagon. The illustrations were a perfect counterpoint to the text. Even though some of the terminology may confuse readers who aren't familiar with that era, they should still find it a delightful story. Give it a try--I seriously doubt that you'll be disappointed!
Author: Christopher Morley
ISBN: 1879923017/Booksellers House
Protagonist: middle-aged Helen McGill
Setting: New England around 1910
Rating: A+
First Line: I wonder if there isn't a lot of bunkum in higher education?
There are a few days when the world seems to hang still in a dreaming, sweet hush, at the very fulness of the fruit before the decline sets in. I have no words (like Andrew) to describe it, but every autumn for years I have noticed it. I remember that sometimes at the farm I used to lean over the wood pile for a moment just before supper to watch those purple October sunsets. I would hear the sharp ting of Andrew's little typewriter bell as he was working in his study. And then I would try to swallow down within me the beauty and wistfulness of it all, and run back to mash the potatoes.
Such is the life of forty-year-old Helen McGill, a woman who began her working life as a governess. For the past several years, she's been on a New England farm, taking care of her brother, Andrew, who's become a successful writer. Andrew's begun to vex the pudding out of Helen. Now that he's famous, he thinks nothing of packing a bag and taking off for weeks at a time, leaving her all the work on the farm. Helen's had enough. The day Roger Mifflin appears, rolling up the drive in a homemade book wagon pulled by a fat old horse, she panics. Mifflin wants to get out of the book trade and return to Brooklyn to write his own book. From reading her brother Andrew's books, Mifflin feels that he is just the person that will buy his "Parnassus on Wheels". Helen agrees whole-heartedly. In fact, she can already see Andrew loading up the wagon and disappearing for months (instead of weeks) at a time. In a move to forestall Andrew, Helen buys the wagon, all the contents, the horse and the dog for $400--the money she's been saving to buy a Ford.
But something else grabs hold of Helen. She's never had a vacation. She's never even had a tiny little adventure. Thinking that it would serve Andrew right if she took off on her own jaunt, she packs a bag, climbs into Parnassus the wagon, and Mifflin takes her out on the road to show her how to survive in the traveling book trade.
In 1917, Morley, a lowly editor of the Doubleday, Page & Company of Long Island, was miffed because he was refused a raise. He started writing Parnassus on Wheels during spare moments. The book was accepted, and the print run of 1500 sold out. Nice, but not spectacular. What this 130-page book did was launch him into fame as a writer in the early twentieth century. I can see why. I think I had a smile plastered on my face the entire time I read this book. Morley has a cast of brilliant characters, especially Helen, and the autumn in New England setting was so well done that I felt as though I had my own seat on the book wagon. The illustrations were a perfect counterpoint to the text. Even though some of the terminology may confuse readers who aren't familiar with that era, they should still find it a delightful story. Give it a try--I seriously doubt that you'll be disappointed!
I had never heard of this book until I read "Book Girl" by Sarah Clarkson (see review below). When I picked it up, I had no idea what a treat I was in for. Set in 1917October in New England, a wagon named Parnassus shows up in the farmyard of Helen McGill and her brother, Andrew. Upon discovering it is a bookshop on wheels and the proprietor is seeking her author brother to purchase the wagon, she decides to purchase it herself and have an adventure. A charming novella that I fell in love with from the beginning.
This a great little book. A tale of a unappreciated woman who takes a chance on change and wins. Not too heavy not too light, just right. It helps if you love books and sharing them.
Overall, I enjoyed this little book very much. It was written in 1917 so it was somewhat dated, but the story of a woman who buys a travelling bookstore was pretty much irresistible, especially for anyone with a love for books like me! The two main characters, Helen McGill and Roger Mifflin are exactly that - characters. I found the ending of the book to be a little bit of a stretch but it probably was the type of ending prevalent in literature of the time-period. Overall, I would recommend this one to any book lover. I also have a copy of the sequel, The Haunted Bookshop, that I hope to get to soon.
I don't even know what to day about this. It was fantastic. It seems I say that about a lot of my reads, but I guess I just have good taste!Helen, the protagonist is sick of her brother the Andrew. He's living the life of a farmer when suddenly he gets it into his head to write a book, which of course got published. This lead to publishes beating down the door, and Andrew going off for weeks and months at a time leaving Helen to handle things on the farm.Needless to say she tires of it quickly, so when Mr. Roger Mifflin arrives at the farm with his bookstore on wheels, proposing to sell it to Andrew, Helen buys it instead. She'll be damned if Andrew goes off on another months long adventure and stick her with all the farm work. This is the beginning of a ridiculous, fabulous adventure for the forty-year-old woman who hadn't had so much as a vacation in fifteen years.Andrew's in a right state when he finds out about it and ends up chasing down Helen and Mifflin, who was staying on only long enough to show her the ropes of Parnassus, the rolling bookstore. There are fights, robberies, deception, visits with book enthusiasts, actual book sales, and all along it turns out to be a love story.It was really quite beautiful and a must read for all bookish people. I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of the sequel, The Haunted Bookshop!
A nice 1955 hardcover with dustjacket edition.Illustrations by Douglas Gorsline.
