Feu l'Indien de Madame

by Leonard Wibberley, J.-P. Lacroix (Traducteur)

Le trajet High Street-Westminster durait une demi-heure environ. Jamais, dans les cinquante-quatre années de son existence, Mme Searwood n'avait trouvé une demi-heure aussi longue. Pour tout dire, cet Indien nu assis à côté d'elle la gênait horriblement.

221 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1954

About the author

Also wrote under his full name Leonard Patrick O'Connor Wibberley and under
Patrick O'Connor as well as pseudonyms Christopher Webb and Leonard Holton

Reviews

[Charlotte L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

C'est un petit coup de coeur que ce court roman bourré d'humour british !
Un vrai bonheur d'assister à l'improbable rencontre entre Mrs. Searwood et Big Chief et de les suivre dans leurs incroyables aventures en pleine Seconde Guerre Mondiale. Ce petit bout de femme, qui ne rêve que d'une nouvelle jarretière et d'un peu de compagnie, va voir sa vie faire un sacré looping ! Critique de la guerre par l'absurde, ce petit livre est une pépite qui se dévore !

[Skedatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the light-hearted humor of the whole story. There is something about a widow of some years and a ghost (he prefers the term spirit) and their friendship that works really well. (It is well to keep in mind that this book was published in 1954 and is about WWII.)

One of my favorite quotes: After realizing that there is a man clad only in a breech cloth at the bus stop with her "She was so shocked that for a second she could say nothing and then retreated behind platitudes to recover from her confusion. "It is rather warm for the time of the year, isn't it?" she ventured nervously."

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thin story but lovingly told, about a widow in Britain during WWII and her adventures with the spirit of a Red Indian. The period detail alone makes for a fascinating read.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a lighthearted book about a middle-aged widow who, towards the end of WWII, finds herself being befriended by the spirit of a Red Indian. White Feather had come to England as a companion to Pocahontas three hundred years ago, and has used his time well, among other things by graduating from Oxford more than 200 times. Mrs. Searwood gets used to her invisible companion, and finds him a great help when she moves to the country to escape the bombs that, she is convinced, Hitler is lobbing specifically at her in retaliation for a critical remark she made in Berlin in 1935. She enjoys life in the country and is particularly interested in seeing the stained glass window of St. Cedric restored in the local church. But then a V2 rocket pulverizes the local inn, and somehow Mrs. Searwood's habit of apparently talking to herself and the German labels on her old luggage turn her into a suspected Nazi spy in the eyes of the locals. White Feather and Mrs. Searwood hijack a plane and fly it over to France where they take pictures of the V2 launching site, pursued by both friendly and enemy planes.

I found the book very funny. The spirits in the story (yes, there's more than just White Feather), Mrs. Searwood, her bossy daughter, the local boy who can't declare his feelings to his girlfriend, the local gossip, a scatterbrained village lady... they are all lovingly drawn. There are appearances by Hitler and Churchill, and I'm happy to report that the ending is a very happy one. The book was written in 1954, so there was some hindsight about the V2 rockets and the landing in Normandy, and all in all it falls into the category of "plucky Englishwomen during the war". A little gem that can amuse even today. The cliches about Native Americans were not as irritating as they might have been, because of White Feather's spectral nature and the general air of parody and caricature.

[Telys · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un roman très british agréable à lire

[Margaux · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un joli petit roman plein d'humour et de rebondissement. On ne s'ennuie pas une seule seconde et qu'est ce qu'on rit !

[Elsa Bordier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Une petite aventure pleine d'un humour british savoureux. Un grand coup de coeur.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marvellous. A wartime comedy of manners, set in a quiet English village. Mrs Searwood arrives and nothing seems quite the same again, not least because she is accompanied by Chief White Feather a 300 year old spirit who has made the most of the afterlife by studying at England's most august seats of learning.

Hitler, it seems, is taking a preternatural interest in the doings of our heroine - all because of an off the cuff remark about the cleanliness of a cafe in Berlin some years before - and it's up to her and her spirit companion to save the country from his machinations.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved it! So Brittish and so quaint. A great quick read.