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The Coming Of Bill
The Coming Of Bill
Feb 25, 2026 7:25 PM

Author:P.G. Wodehouse

The Coming Of Bill

The Coming of Bill (1920) is the nearest Wodehouse ever came to a serious novel, although the influence of the musical comedies he was writing at the time is never far away. Bill is the child of Ruth, a spoilt heiress, and Kirk, an impecunious artist of perfect physique. Their marriage has been arranged by Ruth's aunt, a believer in eugenics who then takes charge of the baby. The story, set entirely in New York and Connecticut, concerns the young couple's campaign to retrieve their child from the overbearing Mrs Porter and establish a normal family life. They are eventually successful, but only after a series of comic mishaps in a story which features a galaxyof vintage Wodehouse characters, including the bossy aunt, a tetchy millionaire, a good-natured ex-boxer and an orotund English butler.

Reviews

"Wodehouse's idyllic world can never stale. He will continue to release future generations from captivity that may be more irksome than our own. He has made a world for us to live in and delight in."

—— EVELYN WAUGH

"He exhausts superlatives"

—— STEPHEN FRY

"Pure word music"

—— DOUGLAS ADAMS

"The Everyman edition promises to be a splendid celebration of the divine Plum"

—— THE INDEPENDENT

"The handsome bindings are only the cherry on top of what is already a cake without compare"

—— EVENING STANDARD

"A handsome, collectable hardback edition"

—— Lynne Truss , THE TIMES

In a literary world which is so often either relaxed into the flabby indifference of review-speak, or corseted into position with the strings and eyelets of critical jargon, James Wood's tone is invaluable

—— Robert MacFarlane , Times Literary Supplement

He is one of literature's true lovers, and his deeply felt, contentious essays are thrilling in their reach and moral seriousness

—— Susan Sontag

James Wood is an authentic literary critic, very rare in this bad time. One can dissent gently from his judgements but he is always urgent, lucid, and interesting

—— Harold Bloom

The mysteries are never tainted by explanation, merely beautifully described, delivering a hypnotic read

—— Times Higher Education Supplement

'For sheer love of a thumping narrative, the novel delivers gloriously-Inventive, alluring' David Mitchell

—— Guardian

'Murakami's most addictive fix to date'

—— Independent

'Engrossing and wildly inventive'

—— Times Literary Supplement

Top marks. Fantastic

—— Heat

Lovely

—— Daily Telegraph

Moving and intelligent

—— Independent

Magnetic, unpretentious and bursting with one-liners

—— Cosmopolitan

Fans of chick-lit will understand when I say that this is a book you simply disappear into

—— Sunday Telegraph
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