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P.G. WODEHOUSE IN ARROW BOOKS

Oh, I say, there's a splendid Society devoted to the works of P G Wodehouse, don't you know? Click on that rather spiffing picture of Bertie Wooster below and take a look.

‘It’s dangerous to use the word genius to describe a writer, but I'll risk it with him’

-John Humphrys

This year sees the reissue of P.G. Wodehouse in Arrow Books.  Published in new paperback editions throughout the year, we’re aiming to revitalise one of the world’s greatest writers in the eyes of the twenty-first century reader. Rediscover the most enduring and appealing aspects of P.G. Wodehouse’s writing: his great wit, endearing characters and riotous adventures, and his traditional Englishness.

Arrow have a fantastic P G Wodehouse site of their own which you can access by clicking on the banner above

Carry On, Jeeves: These marvellous stories introduce us to Jeeves, whose first ever duty is to cure Bertie Wooster’s raging hangover. From this moment, one of the funniest, sharpest and most touching partnerships in English literature was born…

The Inimitable Jeeves: A classic collection of stories featuring some of the funniest episodes in the life of Bertie Wooster, gentleman, and Jeeves, his gentleman’s gentleman – at its heart is one of Wodehouse’s most delicious stories, ‘The Great Sermon Handicap’.

Very Good, Jeeves: An outstanding collection of Jeeves stories, every one a winner, in which Jeeves endeavours to give satisfaction: whether by saving a grumpy cabinet minister from being marooned and attacked by a swan or by rescuing Bingo Little. Every sparkling stratagem will reduce you to helpless laughter.

Thank You, Jeeves: The first novel to feature the incomparable valet Jeeves and his hapless charge Bertie Wooster. When Jeeves resigns over Bertie’s banjo playing, Bertie disappears to the country as a guest of his chum Chuffy – although his peace is soon shattered by the arrival of several guests. Before long a situation boils up which only Jeeves (whether employed or not) can simmer down…

Right Ho, Jeeves: Gussie Fink-Nottle and his chum Tuppy Glossop are having sincere troubles with the ladies. With so many broken hearts lying about him, Bertie Wooster can’t sit idly by. But somehow Bertie’s best-laid plans land everyone in the soup, and so it’s just as well that Jeeves is ever at hand to apply his bulging brains to the problems of young love.

The Code of the Woosters: When Bertie Wooster goes to Totleigh Towers to pour oil on the troubled waters of a lovers' breach between Madeline Bassett and Gussie Fink-Nottle, he isn’t expecting to see Aunt Dahlia there – nor to be instructed by her to steal some silver. But purloining the antique cow creamer is the least of Bertie’s tasks. He has to restore true love to both Madeline and Gussie while confounding the insane ambitions of would-be Dictator Roderick Spode and his Black Shorts. It’s a situation that only Jeeves can unravel…

Joy in the Morning: Trapped in rural Steeple Bumpleigh, a man less stalwart than Bertie Wooster would probably give way at the knees. For among those present were Florence Craye, to whom Bertie had once been engaged, and her new fiancé ‘Stilton’ Cheesewright, who sees Bertie as a snake in the grass. In Bertie’s efforts to oil the wheels of commerce, promote the course of true love and avoid the consequences of a vendetta, he becomes the prey of all and sundry. In fact, only Jeeves can save him…

The Mating Season: Deverill Hall may be idyllic, but impostors are in the air. The prime example is Bertie Wooster, doing a good turn to Gussie Fink-Nottle by impersonating him while he enjoys fourteen days away from society after being caught taking an unscheduled dip in the fountains of Trafalgar Square. Bertie is of course one of nature’s gentlemen, but the stakes are high: if all is revealed, there’s a danger that Gussie’s simpering fiancée Madeline may turn her wide eyes on Bertie instead.

Something Fresh: This is the first Blandings novel, in which we meet the delightfully dotty Lord Emsworth, his bone-headed younger son, the Hon. Freddie Threepwood, his long-suffering secretary, the Efficient Baxter, and Beach the Blandings butler. As Wodehouse wrote, ‘without at least one impostor on the premises, Blandings Castle is never itself’. In Something Fresh there are two, each with an eye on a valuable scarab which Lord Emsworth has acquired without quite realizing how it came into his pocket. But of course things get a lot more complicated than this…

Leave it to Psmith: The precarious peace of Blandings is shattered when the diamond necklace of Lady Constance Keeble, sister of Lord Emsworth, becomes the object of dark plottings. For within the castle lurk some well-connected jewel thieves – including the Honourable Freddie Threepwood, Lord Emsworth’s younger son, and Psmith, the elegant socialist. On patrol with the impossible task of bringing management to Blandings is the Efficient Baxter, whose strivings for order lead to a memorable encounter with the castle flowerpots…

Summer Lightning: The Empress of Blandings, prize-winning pig and all-consuming passion of Clarence, Ninth Earl of Emsworth, has disappeared. Blandings Castle is in uproar and there are suspects a-plenty – even Beach the Butler seems deeply embroiled. With the castle full of deceptions and impostors, will Galahad’s memoirs ever see the light of day? And will the Empress be returned...?

Blandings Castle and Elsewhere: The ivied walls of Blandings Castle have seldom glowed as sunnily as in these wonderful stories – but there are snakes in the rolling parkland ready to nip Clarence, the absent-minded Ninth Earl of Emsworth, when he least expects it. From the Empress of Blandings being off her food to a feud with Head Gardener McAllister, to the horrible prospect of the summer fête and the vexed matter of the custody of the pumpkin, Blandings Castle and Clarence have a lot to contend with. 

Uncle Fred in the Springtime: Uncle Fred is one of the hottest earls that ever donned a coronet. Even so, his gifts are stretched to the limit when he is urged by Lord Emsworth to save his prize pig, the Empress of Blandings, from the enforced slimming cure of the haughty Duke of Dunstable. Pongo Twistleton knows his uncle shouldn’t really be allowed at large – especially when disguised as a brain surgeon. He fears the worst. And his fears are amply justified.

Full Moon: When the moon is full at Blandings, strange things happen: among them the painting of a portrait of The Empress. What better choice of artist, in Lord Emsworth’s opinion, than Landseer. The renowned painter may have been dead for decades, but that doesn’t prevent Galahad Threepwood from introducing him to the castle. Add a gaggle of fearsome aunts, uncles and millionaires, mix in Freddie Threepwood, Beach the Butler and the gardener McAllister, and the moon is full indeed.

Ring for Jeeves Captain Biggar, all round tough guy, should make short work of the two bookies who have absconded with his winnings after a freak double made him a fortune. But on this occasion Honest Patch Perkins and his clerk are not as they seem. Bertie Wooster has gone away to a special school but Jeeves will prove just as resourceful without his young master, and brilliant brainwork may yet square the impossible circle for all concerned.

Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit The beefy ‘Stilton’ Cheesewright has drawn Bertie Wooster as red-hot favourite in the Drones club annual darts tournament – which is lucky for Bertie because otherwise Stilton would have beaten him to a pulp and buttered the lawn with him. Bertie has committed a more heinous offence by growing a moustache, and Jeeves strongly disapproves. Bertie simply has to try to keep his moustache and survive to the end of the novel.

Jeeves in the Offing Jeeves is on holiday in Herne Bay, and while he’s away the world caves in on Bertie Wooster. With all occasions informing against him, Bertie has to hightail it to Herne Bay to liberate Jeeves liberate Jeeves from his shrimping net. And after that, the fun really starts.

Stiff Upper Lip Jeeves When Bertie embarks on an errand of mercy to Totleigh Towers, things get quickly out of control and he’s going to need all the help Jeeves can provide. Thank goodness for the intervention of Chief Inspector Witherspoon of Scotland Yard – but is this gentleman all he seems?

Much Obliged Jeeves Jeeves has a club of his own, the Junior Ganymede, exclusively for butlers and gentlemen’s gentlemen. In its inner sanctum is kept the Book of Revelations, where the less than perfect habits of their employers are lovingly recorded. What happens when it disappears into potentially hostile hands? Tossed about in the resulting whirlwind you’ll find a welcome return to Market Snodsbury.

Aunts Aren’t Gentleman After moving with Jeeves to his cottage at Maiden Eggesford, Bertie soon finds himself surrounded by aunts. Add a hyper-sensitive racehorse, a very important cat and a decidedly bossy fiancée – and all the ingredients are present for a plot in which aunts can exert their terrible authority.

Service with a Smile As a peer of the realm, Clarence, Ninth Earl of Emsworth, has an occasional duty to leave the Empress of Blandings, his adored pig, and travel to London. But no sooner has he returned to Blandings than his real problems begin: the dastardly Duke of Dunstable is out to steal the Empress. His sister Lady Constance has inflicted on him a nasty new secretary. And the Church Lads’ Brigade are camped all over his lawns. Thank God for the Earl of Ickenham whose own particularly devious brand of sweetness and light aims to banish blackmailers and pig-stealers and restore true love all over the castle grounds. 

Pigs Have Wings Can the Empress of Blandings win the Fat Pigs class at the Shropshire Show for the third year sunning? Galahad Threepwood, Beach the butler and others have put their shirt on this. But a substantial obstacle lurks in the way: Queen of Matchingham. Galahad knows this pretender to the crown must be pignapped. But can the Empress in turn avoid a similar fate?

A Pelican at Blandings Unwelcome guests are descending on Blandings Castle – particularly the overbearing Duke of Dunstable and Lady Constance. Skulduggery is also afoot involving the sale of a modern nude painting. It’s enough to take the noble earl to the end of his wits. Luckily, Clarence’s brother, Threepwood, is on hand to set things right. Restore sundered lovers and even solve all the mysteries.

Meet Mr Mulliner In the Angler’s Rest sits one of Wodehouse’s greatest raconteurs. Mr Mulliner, his vivid imagination lubricated by the barmaid, has fabulous stories to tell of his far-flung family: There’s Wilfred, inventor of Raven Gypsy face-cream. His cousin James, the detective-story writer, who has inherited a cottage more haunted than anything in his own imagination. And stuttering George the crossword whizz. Tall tales all – but among Wodehouse’s best.

Mulliner Nights A private detective who can make the guilty confess by smiling at them. An artist so intimidated by his morally impeccable cat that he feels compelled to wear formal attire at dinner. A devotee of Proust whose life is turned upside down when he inadvertently subscribes to a correspondence course on How to Acquire Complete Self-Confidence and an Iron Will. These are just a few of the many members of the Milliner clan whose exploits are laid bare before the regulars of the Angler’s Rest by Mr Mulliner.

Mr Mulliner Speaking More tales of the Milliner clan. Here you can discover what happened to The Man Who Gave Up Smoking and experience the dreadful Unpleasantness at Bludleigh Court.

Cocktail Time Frederick, Earl of Ickenham, in an act of the moment leans out of the Drones Club window with a catapult and pings the silk top-hat off his grumpy in-law, the distinguished barrister Sir Raymond. Unfortunately, the sprightly earl finds that his action has inspired a bestseller and a film script – but this is nothing compared with the entangled fates of the couples that surround him.

Uncle Dynamite This is Wodehouse at his very best, with sundered lovers, explorers, broke publishers and irascible aristocrats all eventually yielding to the magic of Uncle Fred. 

The Luck of the Bodkins Embark on a voyage on the S.S. Atlantic – in the company of Monty Bodkin (whose passion for Gertrude Butterwick knows no bounds), a movie mogul, the centre-forward for the All-England ladies hockey team and the two Tennyson Brothers. A voyage of Pure delight.

The World of Jeeves:
This is an omnibus of wonderful Jeeves and Wooster stories, specially selected and introduced by Wodehouse himself, who was struck by the size of his selection and described it as almost the ideal paperweight. As he wrote:
‘I find it curious, now that I have written so much about him, to recall how softly and undramatically Jeeves first entered my little world. Characteristically, he did not thrust himself forward. On that occasion, he spoke just two lines. The first was: “Mrs Gregson to see you, sir.” The second: “Very good, sir, which suit will you wear?” It was only some time later that the man’s qualities dawned upon me. I still blush to think of the off-hand way I treated him at our first encounter…’.
This omnibus contains Carry On, Jeeves, The Inimitable Jeeves, Very Good, Jeeves and the short stories 'Jeeves Makes an Omelette' and 'Jeeves and the Greasy Bird'.

The World of Blandings:

In this wonderfully fat omnibus, which seems to span the dimensions of the Empress of Blandings herself (the fattest pig in Shropshire and surely all England), the whole world of Blandings Castle is spread out for our delectation: the engagingly dotty Lord Emsworth and his enterprising brother Galahad, his terrifying sister Lady Constance, Beach the butler (his voice ‘like tawny port made audible’), James Wellbeloved, the gifted but not always sober pigman, and Lord Emsworth’s secretary the Efficient Baxter, with gleaming spectacles, whose attempts to bring order to the Castle always end in disarray. Lurking in the wings is Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe of Matchingham Hall, the neighbour with designs on the Prize which must surely belong to the Empress. This omnibus contains Something Fresh, Summer Lightning and three short stories.

Laughing Gas:

Joey Cooley is a golden-curled child film star, the idol of American motherhood. Reginald, Third Earl of Havershot, is a boxing blue on a mission to save his wayward cousin from the fleshpots of Hollywood. Both are under anaesthetic at the dentists when something strange happens – and their identities are swapped in the ether. Laughing Gas is Wodehouse’s brilliantly funny take on the ‘If I were you’ theme – a wry look at the dangers of getting what you wish for in the movie business and beyond.

A Damsel in Distress:

Lady Maud, the spirited young daughter of the Earl of Marshmoreton, is confined to her home under aunt’s orders because of an unfortunate infatuation. Enter our hero, George Bevan, an American who writes songs for musicals and is so smitten with Maud that he descends on Hampshire’s rolling acres to see off his rival and claim her heart. In a sunny story which involves chorus-girls, the theatre and a ball at the castle during a two-week house-party, Wodehouse deftly unties all the knots which he had so cleverly tied around his characters in the first place.

Big Money:

Most of the big money belongs to Torquil Paterson Frisby, the dyspeptic American millionaire – but that doesn’t stop him wanting more out of it. His niece, the beautiful Ann Moon, is engaged to ‘Biscuit’, Lord Biskerton, who doesn’t have very much of the stuff and so he has to escape to Valley Fields to hide from his creditors. Meanwhile, his old schoolfriend Berry Conway, who is working for Frisby, himself falls for Ann – just as Biscuit falls for her friend Kitchie Valentine. Life in Wodehouse can sometimes become a little complicated.

Hot Water:

Château Blissac, on its hill above St Roque, is in a setting where every prospect pleases. But it doesn’t please its current occupier, J. Wellington Gedge. Mr Gedge wants none of it – and particularly none of the domineering Mrs Gedge’s imperious wish that he should become American Ambassador to Paris. Instead he pines for the simpler life of California, where men are men and filling stations stand tall. Mrs Gedge has powerful allies – including the prohibitionist Senator Opal. But will she get her way? And will the Senator’s delightful daughter Jane get her man?

Money for Nothing:

The peaceful slumber of the Worcester village of Rudge-in-the-Vale is about to be rudely disrupted. First there’s a bitter feud between peppery Colonel Wyvern and the Squire of Rudge Hall, rich but miserly Lester Carmody. Second, that arch-villain Chimp Twist has opened a health farm – and he and Soapy and Dolly Molloy are planning a fake burglary so Lester can diddle his insurance company. After the knockout drops are served, things get a little complicated. But will Lester’s nephew John win over his true love, Colonel Wyvern’s daughter Pat, and restore tranquillity to the idyll? It’s a close-run thing…

Summer Moonshine:

Poor Sir Buckstone Abbott, Bart! Not only does he own in Walsingford Hall one of the least attractive stately homes in the country, but he has to take in paying guests to keep it upright. So when it seems a rich (if not very nice) continental princess might buy it, he’s overjoyed – particularly as he’s being rooked by the publisher of his sporting memoirs. His daughter Jane comes up trumps in the company of the playwright Joe – but not before engagements are broken and fortunes lost and made.

The Adventures of Sally:

If you come into a lot of money, life becomes easier, right? No, wrong – at least not for Sally Nicholas, whose generosity of spirit immediately runs into all the slings and arrows outrageous fortune can send. But waiting in the wings is Ginger Kemp, who really does adore her, seems to make a hash of everything he tries and yet is always ready to try something else. If money becomes a problem, perhaps Ginger can provide a solution.

The Girl in Blue:

Young Jerry West has a few problems. His uncle Crispin is broke and employs a butler who isn’t all he seems. His other uncle Willoughby is rich but won’t hand over any of his inheritance. And to cap it all, although already engaged, Jerry has just fallen in love with the wonderful Jane Hunnicutt, whom he’s just met on jury service. Enter The Girl in Blue – a Gainsborough miniature which someone has stolen from Uncle Willoughby. Jerry sets out on a mission to find her – and somehow hilariously in the process everything comes right.

The Small Bachelor:

It’s America during Prohibition and shy young George Finch is setting out as an artist – without the encumbrance of a shred of talent. George falls in love with Molly, whose imperious stepmother Mrs Waddington insists he’s not the man to marry the stepdaughter of one of New York’s most fashionable hostesses.  How George eventually triumphs over the bossy Mrs Waddington makes for a dizzying plot featuring some of Wodehouse’s most appealing minor characters.

Praise for P. G. Wodehouse

‘You don’t analyse such sunlit perfection, you just bask in its warmth and splendour’

Stephen Fry

‘I’ve recorded all the Jeeves books, and I can tell you this: it’s like singing Mozart.  The perfection of the phrasing is a physical pleasure.  I doubt if any writer in the English language has more perfect music.’

Simon Callow

‘I constantly find myself drooling with admiration at the sublime way Wodehouse plays with the English language.’

Simon Brett

‘The incomparable and timeless genius – perfect for readers of all ages, shapes and sizes!’

Kate Mosse

‘The Booker Prize was first awarded in 1969. P G Wodehouse died in 1975. The mystery is why hadn’t he won the Booker six times?’

 Reginald Hill

‘You should read Wodehouse when you’re well and when you're poorly; when you’re travelling, and when you’re not; when you’re feeling clever, and when you’re feeling utterly dim. Wodehouse always lifts your spirits, no matter how high they happen to be already.’

 Lynne Truss

‘P. G. Wodehouse remains the greatest chronicler of a certain kind of Englishness, that no one else has ever captured quite so sharply, or with quite as much wit and affection.’
 Julian Fellowes

‘A genius ... Elusive, delicate but lasting.  He created such a credible world that, sadly, I suppose, never really existed but what a delight it always is to enter it and the temptation to linger there is sometimes almost overwhelming.’
Alan Ayckbourn

 ‘Not only the funniest English novelist who ever wrote but one of our finest stylists. His world is perfect, his stories are perfect, his writing is perfect. What more is there to be said?’
 Susan Hill

‘The funniest writer ever to put words to paper’

Hugh Laurie

‘The greatest comic writer ever’

Douglas Adams

‘Sublime comic genius’

Ben Elton

 ‘P.G. Wodehouse wrote the best English comic novels of the century’

Sebastian Faulks

About P.G. Wodehouse

The author of almost a hundred books and the creator of Jeeves, Blandings Castle, Psmith, Ukridge, Uncle Fred and Mr Mulliner, P.G. Wodehouse was born in 1881 and educated at Dulwich College. After two years with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank he became a full-time writer, contributing to a variety of periodicals. As well as his novels and short stories, he wrote lyrics for musical comedies, and at one stage had five shows running simultaneously on Broadway. At the age of 93, in the New Year’s Honours List of 1975, he received a long-overdue Knighthood, only to die on St Valentine’s Day some 45 days later.