Miss Mole - E H Young (1930)
Borrowed from Liz When Miss Mole returns to Radstowe, she wins the affection of Ethel and of her nervous sister Ruth and transforms the life of the vicarage. This book won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1930. This is quite a slow read I found, but not in a bad way, Miss Mole is the kind of novel that it is worth taking your time over. I loved the character of Hannah Mole, as she's not wholly conventional, a wonderfully flawed character, speaks her mind - tells fibs, sometimes a little sad, sometimes cynical. However she is an indomitable woman, a romantic survivor, who easily wins the affections of Ruth and Ethel, the daughters of pompous non conformist minister Reverend Corder. We see Hannah Mole's life and her past in a rather disjointed non-chronological way - as if Hannah is keeping her secrets to herself untill the very last. Poor Miss Mole, her best years behind her, no home of her own, an embarrassment to her cousin - she nevertheless enriches the lives of several people around her. Finally she is rewarded in a way that most readers would cheer at, in a wonderfully poignant little final scene.