Sketches in Lavender, Blue and Green

Jerome K. Jerome, the mastermind behind Three Men in a Boat, turns his gimlet eye on English society in these wickedly funny character sketches. Each story dissects a different type of Victorian Englishman with surgical precision: the financier who fancies himself a cad, the man who lives entirely for others' opinion, the hobby rider with too much time and too little self-awareness. These are portrait miniatures painted in acid, revealing the small vanities and large self-deceptions that govern polite society. Yet Jerome's wit never turns cruel - there's a warm current beneath the mockery, a recognition that we are all, in our various ways, ridiculous. The comedy emerges from the gap between how these men see themselves and how they appear to everyone else. If you've ever sat in a drawing room and watched someone make a fool of themselves while remaining utterly convinced of their own brilliance, you will recognize every character here.