Adèle and Co.

Adèle and Co. is a 1931 comic novel by the English author Dornford Yates (Cecil William Mercer), featuring his recurring 'Berry' characters. This was Yates's first full-length Berry novel, following several earlier Berry short story collections. It was the first Berry book to be published in the UK by Hodder & Stoughton, and not to be serialised in The Windsor Magazine.

Adèle and Co.
H&S reprint 1942
AuthorDornford Yates
SeriesBerry books
GenreComic novel
PublisherHodder and Stoughton[1]
Publication date
1931[2]
Media typePrint
Pages320[1]
Preceded byJonah and Co. 
Followed byAnd Berry Came Too 

Plot

The Berry family awaken in Paris from a drugged sleep to find that all their jewels have been stolen by their erstwhile friend, Casca de Palk. Led by Jonah Mansel, they chase the thief through France (while fending off the attentions of another group of thieves led by the notorious "Auntie Emma"), to Dieppe, Rouen, Tours and the Pyrenees, ending with a climactic encounter on the Spanish border near the Pic du Midi d'Ossau.

Boy & Adèle, and Berry & Daphne, remain married. Jill is now married to Piers, Duke of Padua, and has baby twins.

The book represents Adèle's valediction within the Berry series; she never appears again.[3]

Background

Although this was the first complete Berry book since 1922, the characters had had cameo roles in other Yates stories since, and there was a complete Berry story called "Letters Patent" in The Windsor Magazine in January 1929 which subsequently appeared in the book Maiden Stakes.[4]

In contrast with the gaiety of the writing, Mercer was at this time at a miserable period in his personal life, his first marriage to Bettine having failed by the time of publication in 1931; and by 1933 the couple were divorced.[5]

Chapters
Chapter Title
I We Sup With The Devil
II Expert Evidence
III Berry Protests And Is Corrupted
IV Adèle Stoops To Conquer
V Perfect Ladies
VI Plot And Counterplot
VII We Get Together
VIII Alarms And Excursions
IX Pray Silence For Berry
X A Lesson In French
XI We Sail Very Close To The Wind
XII Enter Hortense

Critical reception
1931 US first edition (Minton Balch)

According to AJ Smithers in his 1982 biography, Adèle and Co. is Mercer's most joyous and uproarious book, and is in the opinion of many the very best of the Berry series.[6] It is designed as a connected whole, includes crime, and is presented in some of the funniest writing in the English language.[7]

The original dustjacket included the following quotes -

References
  1. "British Library Item details". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  2. Smithers 1982, Appendix I.
  3. Smithers 1982, p. 156.
  4. The Best of Berry (Dents Classic Thrillers 1989) introduction by Jack Adrian
  5. Smithers 1982, pp. 157, 163.
  6. Smithers 1982, p. 154, 157.
  7. Smithers 1982, p. 154.

Bibliography
  • Smithers, AJ (1982). Dornford Yates. London: Hodder and Stoughton. ISBN 0 340 27547 2.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Usborne, Richard (1974). Clubland Heroes. London: Barrie & Jenkins. ISBN 0 214 20012 4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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