Oh what a glorious book and why did I not read it sooner? The refrain all bookworms wish they could sing after every book. Thankfully it was completely true this time.

Perhaps my reluctance was to do with the title, which brings to mind a tortuous Hardy-esque trudge through emotional turmoil and hard-done-by heroines. Then I read the blurb's "one of the best-loved comic novels of all time" and felt better. As I got into though I had doubts again as it then rang blaring Emma warning bells. However, Flora is not Emma. She is not irritating at all. I love Flora. She is clever without being obnoxious, subtly, charmingly cunning and endowed with an acute level of sensibility. She is calm and I would definitely trust her in a crisis. 

The story itself is perfectly executed. From the unassuming introduction to Flora and her dubious choice of flinging herself on her unknown relatives after being orphaned. To the dark and dour Cold Comfort Farm and its oddball inhabitants who seem more like feral cats who pop up, utter strange incantations and slink off again. 

The contrast of this ominous start of Flora's new residence to the end of the book left me with a warm, amused feeling that all the world was right. 

I desperately want to know what Aunt Ada saw in the woodshed though.