New in The Collector's Wodehouse: FRENCH LEAVE and THE WHITE FEATHER

Two new volumes in Overlook's beloved Collector's Wodehouse have just been published!

The White Feather tells the story of a schoolboy who takes up boxing after shaming himself by running away from a fight. This charming early novel (1907) by PGW plays a series of witty variations on the standard school story of the period, balancing the minor heroics of the action against a humorously ironic commentary.

When three sisters from Long Island leave for a holiday in Europe, complications ensue in a classic Wodehouse tale of mixed up lovers and impoverished aristocrats. Set in France, Wodehouse abandons his familiar world of English country houses and London clubs for a more sophisticated European milieu in his 1956 novel French Leave.

P.G. Wodehouse Returns with a Giveaway!

Here at Overlook, we're delighted to be adding another three volumes to our already voluminous Collector's Wodehouse series. If you're an anglophile or just a lover of good literature, these three books are sure to charm, thanks to P.G. Wodehouse's witty prose and hilariously complex plots. Wodehouse is the master of social hijinks and comedy and has the remarkable ability to bring his socialite characters and their twentieth-century England world alive. Both nostalgic and timeless, Wodehouse's many novels are certain to entertain readers for generations with his exceedingly clever and comically savvy satire.


Tales of St Austin's is a collection of sixteen school-themed early Wodehouse stories and essays. Boyish escapades like cricket, rugby, and revenge are familiar ingredients of these stories, but no one can relate them quite as well as Wodehouse, with his gentle humor and inimitable turns of phrase. St Austin's is a nostalgic look at English public-school life at the turn of the twentieth century, but readers will be pleasantly surprised at the stories' relevance to today's world.

Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves is the ninth of eleven novels featuring the comical Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves, who always manages to extricate Bertie from the wacky situations he lands himself in. In Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves, Bertie returns to Totleigh Towers—lair of former magistrate Sir Watkyn Bassett and his ghastly daughter Madeline—to assist his old friend 'Stinker' Pinker. His subsequent adventures involve a black statuette, a Brazilian explorer, an angry policeman, and all the horrors of a school treat. It takes Jeeves, posing as Chief Inspector Witherspoon of the Yard, to sort out the mess and retrieve his employer from the soup.

 Bachelors Anonymous is the story of a bachelors' support group, meant to keep members safe from roving, marriage-hungry females and out of tricky romantic entanglements. Much-married, much-divorced American movie mogul—and serial marriage proposer—Ivor Llewellyn depends on his Bachelors Anonymous friends to fend off actress Vera Dalrymple. But when Llewellyn's bodyguard begins to fall for a beautiful journalist, Bachelors Anonymous member, Ephraim Trout, attempts to intervene. Trout sets in motion a series of hilarious events which end in more than one marriage, including his own.

Whether you're a devoted Wodehousian or have only a cursory knowledge of the masterful English writer, Overlook Press would like to celebrate by giving you the chance to win these three beautiful books. Printed on Scottish cream-weave, acid-free paper, bound in a cloth cover, and protected by a beautifully illustrated dust jacket, these are truly collector's editions. Post a comment here or a retweet on Twitter and you'll automatically be entered in our giveaway.

New Additions to the Collector’s Wodehouse

Still longing for new episodes of Downton Abbey? As the Chicago Tribune suggests, give Wodehouse a try. There’s no time like the present, as today brings the two latest additions to our Collector’s Wodehouse series, The Adventures of Sally and Mike at Wrykyn. Still not convinced? Just ask British comedic actor, Stephen Fry. 

When finished, the Collector’s Wodehouse will be the first complete hardback series of Wodehouse’s work by any one publisher. In every case, our editors have gone back to the first editions of each book and corrected errors that crept into the numerous paperback volumes. Each book has been re-typeset using the classic English typeface Caslon and printed on Scottish cream-woven, acid free paper, sewn and bound in full cloth, and illustrated by Polish artist Andrzej Klimowski.

The Adventures of Sally is a transatlantic comedy set in worlds Wodehouse knew well: American theaters and English theatrical boardinghouses where young men and women dream of finding fame and fortune. Coming into a modest inheritance, one of these young women, Sally, is able to leave her boardinghouse at last, and looks forward to a quiet life in a small apartment. Instead she finds herself swept up in a series of adventures with her ambitious brother and her playwright fiancé, along with an accident-prone, dog-loving Englishman she meets on a French beach and his supercilious cousin, who pursue her across the Atlantic. 

In Mike a Wrykyn, the charming story of the Jackson cricketing dynasty at boarding school, Wodehouse evokes the peaceful prosperous world of middle-class England before the Great War, a place where rich men hire private cricket professionals to coach their sons at home, and little seems to matter at school except the publishing of team lists and the taking of tea. But such is the novelist’s skill that he can make excitement from the small-scale dramas of teenage life, and interest even the most unsporting reader in the cricket matches he describes so lovingly. A curiosity for those who know only Wodehouse of Blandings and Piccadilly, but a delightful one.

Downton Abbey on Wooster Street

Since its highly acclaimed debut in 2010, the Primetime Emmy Award winning series Downton Abbey has captured the hearts and minds of American viewers. With a killer cast and rich plot wrought with juicy aristocratic drama and the political tensions of a world at war, it is no wonder this stunning British melodrama hits all the right notes for stateside fans.

The series, which airs Sunday nights on PBS, commences in season one with the devastating news of the sunken RMS Titanic and ends with the declaration of WWI. After a year-long hiatus, the show returned on January 9 with a 2-hour season premiere. We don’t do spoilers, so get up to speed on your own; you have two days to catch up!

The history, the fashion, the forbidden love—we can’t get enough of Downton Abbey. While riveted to the screen, we fondly think of our own British sagas and wartime stories, bound and shelved in our downtown office. When Monday morning rolls around, and you are longing for the Edwardian thrills and high drama of Sunday nights, look no further. We think these exciting Overlook Press titles will tide you over through the week.

No Angel, Something Dangerous, Into Temptation

Penny Vincenzi

Much like Downton Abbey, Penny Vincenzi's Spoils of Time trilogy begins during the Edwardian Era, at a time when social stratification was most evident, yet the World Wars devastated rich and poor alike. The first book of the trilogy, No Angel, introduces the Lytton family, whose wealth and prestige as a publishing dynasty contrasts sharply with the relentless poverty of those around them. Something Dangerous and Into Temptation follow suit with intense themes of power and family politics amidst a backdrop of passion and glamour.

"The racy plots and period atmosphere will keep you firmly hooked. Irresistible!"—Washington Post Book World

The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Brontë

Bedlam: The Further Adventures of Charlotte Brontë

Laura Joh Rowland

The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Brontë and Bedlam predate Downton Abbey in the Victorian Era, yet betrayals, passionate romance, and adventure remain the common thread among the three compelling storylines. Follow Charlotte Bronte and her sisters in suspenseful jaunts through Haworth, London, and beyond. If you enjoy engaging mysteries and historical drama, these two period novels will not disappoint.

“Laura Joh Rowland not only evokes Victorian-era London with a sure hand, she creates a believable Charlotte whose intelligence, stubbornness, and wit recall Jane at every turn. Even more important, the mystery itself is particularly fine.” —Entertainment Weekly

The Collector's Wodehouse

P.G. Wodehouse

Is there anything more quintessentially British and charming than the works of P. G. Wodehouse? Lauded as one of the greatest comic writers of our time, Wodehouse represents an antic high point in the world of farce and social satire. Creator of Jeeves, Blandings Castle, Psmith, Ukridge and more, the masterful Wodehouse lives on in our beautifully produced The Collector's Wodehouse (see the collection here).

"His novels are the very definition of British humor: bubblingly witty and dryly loony. Overlook Press continues its reissue of a handful of these absurd souffes. You can buy the work for yourself in suave hardcover volumes, the dust jackets as natty as the prose." —Entertainment Weekly

Bliss, Remembered

Frank Deford

Lovers of historical fiction will revel in this fictional memoir with flashbacks to Nazi Germany and the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The threat of war and forbidden love between an American Olympic hopeful and the son of a Nazi diplomat makes for “an enthralling work of fiction” (Library Journal) that should not be missed.

“Deford has a superb sense of character and period, and readers will at once feel drawn into the turbulent times…this is a poignant story, utterly charming and enjoyable.”—Publishers Weekly

On the ninth day of Christmas, Overlook Press gave to me …

With only four installments in the ongoing 12 Days of Overlook Christmas giveaway remaining, you may be asking yourselves what tricks we could possibly still have up our sleeves for these final days of literary gift-giving. With eight days of previous giveaways under our belts, we have already handed out a portable Portis paperback collection, a trio of illustrated designer tomes, a set of hair-raising historical mysteries, three scoops for journalism junkies, classic and contemporary kid-lit, visual volumes for the holidays, a menagerie of Mervyn Peake stories, and a Dickens-inspired Christmas compendium, but we have saved one of our perennial favorite stocking-stuffers for today’s lucky winner. Congratulations to Elisabeth Hilverda, who took home yesterday’s tinsel-themed prize pack, and make sure to continue sending us Facebook comments and tweets if you want to cash in on today’s special gift!

Although this holiday giveaway has been focused on the 12 Days of Overlook Christmas, December brings a bevy of holiday celebrations that we would be remiss to ignore. Tonight at sundown begins Hanukkah, AKA the festival of lights. During the eight days of Hanukkah, menorahs the world over will be lit to commemorate the ancient miracle in which one day’s supply of oil burned for eight nights. Dreidels will be spun, latkes will be consumed, and Adam Sandler songs and movies will be looped on repeat. To celebrate the first night of Hanukkah (as well as the ninth day of our Overlook Christmas), today we are giving away two of the most recent additions to our Collector’s Wodehouse series, as well as two forthcoming sneak peeks to be released in 2012: Mike at Wrykyn, The Adventures of Sally, The Gold Bat, and Love Among the Chickens.

The late Christopher Hitchens called P.G. Wodehouse “the gold standard of English wit,” and shared a deep love and passion for PGW with writers including Stephen Fry and Evelyn Waugh. At Overlook, we publish more than eighty books in our Collector’s Wodehouse series (at one book per day, that’s more than eight Hanukkah’s worth) and share in their deep respect and admiration for Wodehouse’s brand of bubbling British humor.

In Mike at Wrykyn (coming April 2012), Wodehouse evokes the peaceful, prosperous world of middle-class England before the Great War, a place where rich men hire private cricket professionals to coach their sons at home, and little seems to matter at school except the publishing of team lists and the taking of tea. The Adventures of Sally (2012) is a transatlantic comedy set in worlds Wodehouse knew well: American theaters, English country houses, and the theatrical boardinghouses where young men and women dream of finding fame and fortune. These two advance releases make the perfect gift for the Wodehouse novice, or for those who only know him through Blandings and Picadilly.

Love Among the Chickens is the tale of Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge, one of Wodehouse’s favorite protagonists, and his fraught attempt to establish a business farming chickens on the coast of Dorset. Set in English public school in the years before World War I, The Gold Bat tells the story of O’Hara and Moriarty, two boys at Wrykyn School, who tar and feather the statue of a pompous local politician, and mislay at the scene of their crime a tiny god bat. A gentle early comedy, which should delight Wodehouse diehards and new readers alike.

As always, there are three ways to enter:

1. Comment on this post

2. Tweet at us using the hashtag #OverlookChristmas

3. Leave a comment on our Facebook page

You can enter once in each area until 8 AM tomorrow morning, and we will be announcing a winner in Monday’s post. After all entries are received, we choose a winner using random.org. Please leave an email address when entering so we can contact you if you’ve won.