Uneasy Money

Bill, Lord Dawlish, is the kind of man who gives his last pound to a stranger selling trinkets on the street and then has to borrow cab fare home. His fiancée, the formidable Claire Fenwick, has made it abundantly clear: no money, no marriage. So when Bill inherits a million pounds from an American millionaire he once helped at golf, it seems his troubles are over. But Bill has a conscience and the man left his niece and nephew a mere twenty pounds each. Crushed by this injustice, Bill resolves to give half his fortune to the neglected niece, Elizabeth Boyd. This is where the trouble begins. It turns out that giving away money, when lawyers and relatives and social conventions all have opinions, isremarkably difficult. Wodehouse's earliest romantic comedy has all the ingredients that would later make him legendary: gentle social satire, misunderstandings worthy of a farce, and dialogue that crackles. It's also remarkably prescient about money, class, and what we owe to people we've never met. If you've ever suspected the world makes it easier to spend than to give generously, you'll recognize every absurdity.