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Not at Home
"I don’t mind being alone at all. I was often here alone in the blitz, and I was so frightened of the bombs that I quite stopped being frightened of burglars."
World War II has ended, residents are flooding back to London, and the housing shortage creates strange bedfellows. Elinor MacFarren—middle-aged spinster, botanical writer, and collector of prints and objets d’art—decides to rent part of her house to Antonia Bankes, whose American husband is with the Occupation Forces in Europe. While Miss MacFarren prefers to live alone, Mrs Bankes seems a perfect tenant. She admires Miss MacFarren’s beautiful things (“It’s the prettiest room I’ve ever seen in my life!”), promises quiet and care (“You’ll find me madly careful”), and seems an ideal homemaker (“I like housework. I’ve got quite a ‘thing’ about it.”).
Inevitably, however, it’s not so easy. Mrs Bankes proves to be exasperating and helpless, skilled only in charm, manipulation, and blithely promising anything to get her way. What follows is an intricately plotted, gloriously entertaining saga of domestic warfare, as Miss MacFarren tries to cope, tries to cajole, and finally tries to rid herself of her meddlesome tenant, all while taking up whiskey—and all with unpredictable and delightful results.
World War II has ended, residents are flooding back to London, and the housing shortage creates strange bedfellows. Elinor MacFarren—middle-aged spinster, botanical writer, and collector of prints and objets d’art—decides to rent part of her house to Antonia Bankes, whose American husband is with the Occupation Forces in Europe. While Miss MacFarren prefers to live alone, Mrs Bankes seems a perfect tenant. She admires Miss MacFarren’s beautiful things (“It’s the prettiest room I’ve ever seen in my life!”), promises quiet and care (“You’ll find me madly careful”), and seems an ideal homemaker (“I like housework. I’ve got quite a ‘thing’ about it.”).
Inevitably, however, it’s not so easy. Mrs Bankes proves to be exasperating and helpless, skilled only in charm, manipulation, and blithely promising anything to get her way. What follows is an intricately plotted, gloriously entertaining saga of domestic warfare, as Miss MacFarren tries to cope, tries to cajole, and finally tries to rid herself of her meddlesome tenant, all while taking up whiskey—and all with unpredictable and delightful results.
300 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1948
38 people are currently reading
227 people want to read
About the author
Doris Langley Moore
31 books18 followersDoris Langley Moore OBE (1902–1989) also known as Doris Langley-Levy Moore, was one of the first important female fashion historians. She founded the Fashion Museum, Bath, (as The Museum of Costume) in 1963. She was also a well-respected Lord Byron scholar, and author of a 1940s ballet, The Quest. As a result of these wide-ranging interests, she had many connections within fashionable, intellectual, artistic and theatrical circles.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
January 7, 2020
Have you every been in any of these situations?
- You have been upset by something of yours being damaged or lost, and the person responsible makes you feel you are overreacting because it was ‘only a thing’?
- It’s late, you really need to sleep, but people are making a noise and you know that if you say anything at all you will be cast as the dull person who is spoiling the party?
- There is something you want to do that you know is fair and reasonable, but you are reluctant to act because you know that if you do it you will be made to feel that you were acting unfairly and selfishly?
Situations like that are at the heart of this book, and they are brilliantly portrayed
Late in the summer of 1945, Miss Elinor MacFarren was living alone in her family home. She was middle aged – on the cusp of elderly – and she was content with her life. She followed in a family tradition of writing about botany, and she was respected in that field; and had a fine collection of botanical prints and antiques. It was because her finances were just a little stretched that she decided that it would be a good idea to rent out part of the house.
Mrs Antonia Bankes presented herself as the perfect tenant. She expressed warm admiration for the house and for Miss MacFarren’s lovely things and promised to love and care for them as she did; she said that, as the wife of an American with the occupation forces in Europe, she would be bringing little with her; and she professed a love of quiet domestic pursuits and housework.
It seemed too good to be true – and it was!
Miss MacFarren found her hall full of packing cases a day before Mrs Bankes was due to move in; the next day a merry band of ladies came to help Mrs Bankes move in, and took over the ‘shared’ spare room; not long after that, before Miss MacFarren began to spot damages ….
Nothing in the landlady’s experience had equipped her to deal with such a tenant!
Mrs Bankes presented herself as being quite helpless, she was utterly charming, and she made promises that rang with sincerity.
Miss MacFarren was confounded and exasperated!
The story follows her as she first tries to cope with the situation, then she tries to take control of the situation and finally tries to evict her nightmare tenant. It sounds simple – and it is and it isn’t – because the story is so cleverly plotted, because actions often had unexpected consequences, and because she learned a lot and changed somewhat as the result of her experiences.
As her antique dealer friend, Harriet, who had introduced Mrs Bankes when she though her one of her best customer and later learned that she was one of her worst, said:
“If you used to have one fault one tiny fault, my dear, it was that you were becoming – no let me say you were in danger of becoming smug. This Bankes situation has been a great ordeal, but its done you all the good in the world. It’s humanized you. It’s broadened your mind. You’re a far more adaptable woman the you were this time last year.”
The story is filled out by a fine and diverse supporting cast, including Mrs Manders, the daily help, who was charmed into doing a great deal of work for Mrs Bankes, until she buckled under the load; Dr Wilmot, who Miss MacFarren had thought of as a rival in her field but who became a good friend and co-conspirator; Mr Bankes, who won over Miss MacFarren with his wry acknowledgement of his wife’s ‘weaknesses’ and his genuine interest in her field; and Miss Maxine Albert, a friend of Miss MacFarren’s nephew who she took time to warm too but who would become her most valuable co-conspirator.
Doris Langley Moore wrote very well, she told an engaging, distinctive and unpredictable tale, but I have to address one concern.
A fox terrier appeared in the story, and the dog came to an unhappy end. It was signposted and it wasn’t gratuitously described, my problem was that hardly anyone cared and those that did care weren’t as upset as that should have been.
That fixed my opinions of certain characters more that they should have been fixed, and it made me feel the lack of an emotional side to the story.
But Miss MacFarren was an unexpectedly wonderful heroine, and I was with her every step of the way.
- You have been upset by something of yours being damaged or lost, and the person responsible makes you feel you are overreacting because it was ‘only a thing’?
- It’s late, you really need to sleep, but people are making a noise and you know that if you say anything at all you will be cast as the dull person who is spoiling the party?
- There is something you want to do that you know is fair and reasonable, but you are reluctant to act because you know that if you do it you will be made to feel that you were acting unfairly and selfishly?
Situations like that are at the heart of this book, and they are brilliantly portrayed
Late in the summer of 1945, Miss Elinor MacFarren was living alone in her family home. She was middle aged – on the cusp of elderly – and she was content with her life. She followed in a family tradition of writing about botany, and she was respected in that field; and had a fine collection of botanical prints and antiques. It was because her finances were just a little stretched that she decided that it would be a good idea to rent out part of the house.
Mrs Antonia Bankes presented herself as the perfect tenant. She expressed warm admiration for the house and for Miss MacFarren’s lovely things and promised to love and care for them as she did; she said that, as the wife of an American with the occupation forces in Europe, she would be bringing little with her; and she professed a love of quiet domestic pursuits and housework.
It seemed too good to be true – and it was!
Miss MacFarren found her hall full of packing cases a day before Mrs Bankes was due to move in; the next day a merry band of ladies came to help Mrs Bankes move in, and took over the ‘shared’ spare room; not long after that, before Miss MacFarren began to spot damages ….
Nothing in the landlady’s experience had equipped her to deal with such a tenant!
Mrs Bankes presented herself as being quite helpless, she was utterly charming, and she made promises that rang with sincerity.
Miss MacFarren was confounded and exasperated!
The story follows her as she first tries to cope with the situation, then she tries to take control of the situation and finally tries to evict her nightmare tenant. It sounds simple – and it is and it isn’t – because the story is so cleverly plotted, because actions often had unexpected consequences, and because she learned a lot and changed somewhat as the result of her experiences.
As her antique dealer friend, Harriet, who had introduced Mrs Bankes when she though her one of her best customer and later learned that she was one of her worst, said:
“If you used to have one fault one tiny fault, my dear, it was that you were becoming – no let me say you were in danger of becoming smug. This Bankes situation has been a great ordeal, but its done you all the good in the world. It’s humanized you. It’s broadened your mind. You’re a far more adaptable woman the you were this time last year.”
The story is filled out by a fine and diverse supporting cast, including Mrs Manders, the daily help, who was charmed into doing a great deal of work for Mrs Bankes, until she buckled under the load; Dr Wilmot, who Miss MacFarren had thought of as a rival in her field but who became a good friend and co-conspirator; Mr Bankes, who won over Miss MacFarren with his wry acknowledgement of his wife’s ‘weaknesses’ and his genuine interest in her field; and Miss Maxine Albert, a friend of Miss MacFarren’s nephew who she took time to warm too but who would become her most valuable co-conspirator.
Doris Langley Moore wrote very well, she told an engaging, distinctive and unpredictable tale, but I have to address one concern.
A fox terrier appeared in the story, and the dog came to an unhappy end. It was signposted and it wasn’t gratuitously described, my problem was that hardly anyone cared and those that did care weren’t as upset as that should have been.
That fixed my opinions of certain characters more that they should have been fixed, and it made me feel the lack of an emotional side to the story.
But Miss MacFarren was an unexpectedly wonderful heroine, and I was with her every step of the way.
December 26, 2022
‘Dislike at first sight is just as irrational as love at first sight.'
‘And just as inescapable.’
My favorite kind of book - one that pulls you in but makes you cringe, uncomfortable, infuriated because you care about the characters and what happens to them. It was laugh out loud funny, life-affirming and real. Wish I could have read this all in one sitting. Midway through when things started heating up I was literally ripping my fingernails off - that’s how I know I’m IN the story!
I loved the relationship between Miss MacFarren and really every other character, Maxine, Harriet, Joss - such genuinely good people in their own weird way (except for Antonia, of course, and actually, Joss was very much an enabler and at LEAST partially to blame for what Miss MacFarren went through in dealing with his wife, but does that make him a bad person? Or just kinda dense? I don’t know! I’m talking like they’re real! But they are…)
This book would be nothing without the brilliantly crafted characters. Doris Langley Moore makes you feel you know these people, and I recognized parts of myself in almost all of them. The blurb on Goodreads described the story as “delightful” and I feel that’s the perfect word. Beautiful ending. Must reread the last chapter.
I enjoy reading books that fit the season and this one was perfect for Spring.
If you like Margery Sharp, Stella Gibbons or Monica Dickens, I definitely highly recommend this book. Even if you don’t, please do!
‘And just as inescapable.’
My favorite kind of book - one that pulls you in but makes you cringe, uncomfortable, infuriated because you care about the characters and what happens to them. It was laugh out loud funny, life-affirming and real. Wish I could have read this all in one sitting. Midway through when things started heating up I was literally ripping my fingernails off - that’s how I know I’m IN the story!
I loved the relationship between Miss MacFarren and really every other character, Maxine, Harriet, Joss - such genuinely good people in their own weird way (except for Antonia, of course, and actually, Joss was very much an enabler and at LEAST partially to blame for what Miss MacFarren went through in dealing with his wife, but does that make him a bad person? Or just kinda dense? I don’t know! I’m talking like they’re real! But they are…)
This book would be nothing without the brilliantly crafted characters. Doris Langley Moore makes you feel you know these people, and I recognized parts of myself in almost all of them. The blurb on Goodreads described the story as “delightful” and I feel that’s the perfect word. Beautiful ending. Must reread the last chapter.
I enjoy reading books that fit the season and this one was perfect for Spring.
If you like Margery Sharp, Stella Gibbons or Monica Dickens, I definitely highly recommend this book. Even if you don’t, please do!
January 12, 2020
Very glad to see this back in print
Set just after WW2, Miss MacFarren has to find a tenant to share the experience of running her home. Though she doesn't like her, she reluctantly agreed to let Mrs Banks move in. What follows is an escalating water between the two.
Set just after WW2, Miss MacFarren has to find a tenant to share the experience of running her home. Though she doesn't like her, she reluctantly agreed to let Mrs Banks move in. What follows is an escalating water between the two.
September 22, 2020
Oh, Doris Langley Moore, you are always so good! Who would have thought that the tale of trying to shed an unwanted tenant would be so delightful?
In the midst of the post-WWII housing shortage, Miss MacFarren, a proper, somewhat diffident middle-aged spinster who is of some renown for her writing about and drawing of flowers, rents out part of her lovely home to a seemingly charming woman, Mrs. Bankes. Miss MacFarren's own personal ideas about proper behavior thwart her ability to deal with a tenant who turns out to be childish, careless, and manipulative, indulged by her wonderful but oblivious husband. Miss MacFarren must alter her own character a bit to cope with, and combat, being taken advantage of, and she makes unlikely allies along the way.
DLM is always psychologically astute, and the characters are beautifully and humorously delineated. This plot was a bit more predictable than her others, but there were many entertaining twists and turns, and of course her wonderful writing:
"It was quite a psychological sort of thing, really, Miss MacFarren considered, surprised at her own perspicuity: there might be something like it in Freud--only, now that she came to think of it, in what little she had read of Freud, parents were not so much yearning for their children's lifelong companionship as repressing secret desires to kill them. Captain Bankes must belong to some other psychoanalytical system."
I've really enjoyed the four DLM books I've read ("All Done By Kindness," in particular). Many thanks and kudos go to Furrowed Middlebrow and Dean Street Press for bringing this author back into print. Not to appear greedy, but I hope they can locate and acquire her two obscure early novels to add to the imprint!
In the midst of the post-WWII housing shortage, Miss MacFarren, a proper, somewhat diffident middle-aged spinster who is of some renown for her writing about and drawing of flowers, rents out part of her lovely home to a seemingly charming woman, Mrs. Bankes. Miss MacFarren's own personal ideas about proper behavior thwart her ability to deal with a tenant who turns out to be childish, careless, and manipulative, indulged by her wonderful but oblivious husband. Miss MacFarren must alter her own character a bit to cope with, and combat, being taken advantage of, and she makes unlikely allies along the way.
DLM is always psychologically astute, and the characters are beautifully and humorously delineated. This plot was a bit more predictable than her others, but there were many entertaining twists and turns, and of course her wonderful writing:
"It was quite a psychological sort of thing, really, Miss MacFarren considered, surprised at her own perspicuity: there might be something like it in Freud--only, now that she came to think of it, in what little she had read of Freud, parents were not so much yearning for their children's lifelong companionship as repressing secret desires to kill them. Captain Bankes must belong to some other psychoanalytical system."
I've really enjoyed the four DLM books I've read ("All Done By Kindness," in particular). Many thanks and kudos go to Furrowed Middlebrow and Dean Street Press for bringing this author back into print. Not to appear greedy, but I hope they can locate and acquire her two obscure early novels to add to the imprint!
January 30, 2023
...The sense of loss when she considered what her disintegrating friendship with Harriet had meant to her, the awareness of a change, undermining self-respect, in her whole mode of life - by some unpleasant kind of alchemy, these various impressions seemed to fuse into one sensation which was almost terror.
Not at home centers on Elinor, a 50ish "spinster" in post WWII England that has resulted to renting out her best rooms in her home in order to make ends meet. Elinor's friend Harriet acted as a reference for Mrs. Bankes, a customer in her shop and vouched that Mrs. Bankes and her husband would be the perfect tenants. Unfortunately for Elinor, Mrs. Bankes is the furthest thing from an ideal tenant and once she's moved in, she has no intention of leaving. This book details the trials and tribulations of Elinor, who, with too much of the politeness ingrained in women, is having the hardest time removing her squatter of a tenant.
This book had me on pins and needles and I kept yelling at Elinor in my head to grow a backbone. But I, too, have left many things unsaid because I didn't want to inconvenience others.
Elinor evolved throughout the course of the book and it was not hard to admire her growth and root for her and her cause.
At fifty-odd, one admires the qualities one has longed for and missed with an envy that is nostalgic and affectionate rather than jealous.
I will be thinking of this book long after I've finished it.
Caveat: There is some writing about "racial strain"s and quite a few references to "Red Indians" and their physical features which both seems of its time yet completely unnecessary within the context and plot of this book.
Not at home centers on Elinor, a 50ish "spinster" in post WWII England that has resulted to renting out her best rooms in her home in order to make ends meet. Elinor's friend Harriet acted as a reference for Mrs. Bankes, a customer in her shop and vouched that Mrs. Bankes and her husband would be the perfect tenants. Unfortunately for Elinor, Mrs. Bankes is the furthest thing from an ideal tenant and once she's moved in, she has no intention of leaving. This book details the trials and tribulations of Elinor, who, with too much of the politeness ingrained in women, is having the hardest time removing her squatter of a tenant.
This book had me on pins and needles and I kept yelling at Elinor in my head to grow a backbone. But I, too, have left many things unsaid because I didn't want to inconvenience others.
Elinor evolved throughout the course of the book and it was not hard to admire her growth and root for her and her cause.
At fifty-odd, one admires the qualities one has longed for and missed with an envy that is nostalgic and affectionate rather than jealous.
I will be thinking of this book long after I've finished it.
Caveat: There is some writing about "racial strain"s and quite a few references to "Red Indians" and their physical features which both seems of its time yet completely unnecessary within the context and plot of this book.
January 6, 2021
I see that I gave this two stars but I don't remembering doing that. It was at least a three if not a four. I don't know how this happened but I'm changing my rating.
Read
July 9, 2024This was fun but I liked All Done by Kindness more.
March 21, 2021
Miss McFarren, an artist and author of books on flowers, is content with her single life in her beautiful London house, surrounded by the lovely things she delights in collecting. But she finds the expense of keeping the house is now too much for her, so she decides to offer accommodation in return for sharing the bills. Mrs Bankes, the charming, feckless, irresponsible woman she finds herself saddled with isn’t at all the kind of person she hoped for, and she finds herself getting more and more annoyed as Mrs Bankes is careless with her property and fills her house with tasteless junk and noisy friends. But is there any way of getting rid of her? This is a fairly entertaining story with some good characters of whom my favourites are Miss McFarren’s rival collector and sort of friend Dr Wilson, and his immaculate parlourmaid Pearson, I would have liked to see more of them. But Mrs Bankes is too exaggeratedly awful to be believable, and the frequent references to her as childish seem to me to be unfair to children - I have never known a child as unrelentingly stupid, selfish and thick skinned as Mrs Bankes. And the passages about the neglect of pets strike an unpleasant note which I could have done without. For me, it was Doctor Wilson and Pearson who made the book worth reading, and I wish there had been more of them and less of the tiresome Mrs Bankes.
October 21, 2022
I never knew domestic drama could be so compelling
This brilliantly observed book is a joy from the first page to the last. Its characters are so wonderfully described and their different lives so cleverly entwined. Brought to a highly satisfactory conclusion, Doris Langley Moore shows an understanding of human nature that is hugely optimistic, despite all the horrors of sharing your house with such a terrible tenant as Mrs Bankes. I was delighted to have this fast-moving and charming book recommended to me and I am only sorry not to know what happens next to all the stars of this refreshing and uplifting story.
This brilliantly observed book is a joy from the first page to the last. Its characters are so wonderfully described and their different lives so cleverly entwined. Brought to a highly satisfactory conclusion, Doris Langley Moore shows an understanding of human nature that is hugely optimistic, despite all the horrors of sharing your house with such a terrible tenant as Mrs Bankes. I was delighted to have this fast-moving and charming book recommended to me and I am only sorry not to know what happens next to all the stars of this refreshing and uplifting story.
February 22, 2022
This brought back some frustrating roommate memories. Ahhh. Though I've never had to deal with anything close to what our dear protagonist, Elinor MacFarren, had to. This was an infuriating read and one I enjoyed for the most part. (I was quite distressed by the budgies and the dog.) I look forward to reading more by this author.
February 3, 2021
Darling. I love this genre. This book was actually infuriatingly stressful watching poor Elinor deal with her renters. I wanted to shake Antonia every much as Elinor did. Highly enjoyable.
December 30, 2023
I got two-thirds of the way through this book and had to put it down because I was so frustrated with Elinor MacFarren. I know that the author intended the clash between EF’s old-fashioned manners and fastidious taste and Mrs. Bankes’s heedless irresponsibility and vulgarity to be funny, but EF’s inability to get rid of Mrs. B drove me up the wall. “Just throw her out!” I was screaming to her in my mind.
So I put it down. Then about a year later I decided to try it again, and discovered that I’d given up just when the fun begins. The last third of the book deals with EF’s schemes to get rid of Mrs. B, and was delightful.
Someone else might not react to the first two-thirds of the book the way I did, and might enjoy the whole thing. For me, the first 2/3 rates two stars and the last third four. So while that doesn’t work out exactly to three, that’s the closest I can get.
So I put it down. Then about a year later I decided to try it again, and discovered that I’d given up just when the fun begins. The last third of the book deals with EF’s schemes to get rid of Mrs. B, and was delightful.
Someone else might not react to the first two-thirds of the book the way I did, and might enjoy the whole thing. For me, the first 2/3 rates two stars and the last third four. So while that doesn’t work out exactly to three, that’s the closest I can get.
September 3, 2023
I've read several books from the Furrowed Middlebrow imprint, and this is my least favourite so far. The treatment of the budgies and the dog was a bit difficult to take. A not-very-pleasant group of characters.
July 23, 2020
Charming, witty & beautifully written.
August 24, 2025
Another wonderful novel from the Furrowed Middlebrow collection. It reminded me slightly of 'Miss Plum and Miss Penny' by Dorothy Evelyn Smith. I felt that the atmosphere in that story was ever so slightly menacing but the word that leaps to mind in this one is 'exasperating'. One of those novels which make you want to walk right into that world and sort things out for the oppressed main character.
Miss MacFarren has the ingrained well-mannered politeness and honesty inculcated by parents and society in that era. This is no doubt a virtue and valuable personal quality but it can also be a curse when others feel no desire or obligation to play by the same rules.
This novel watches Miss McFarren struggling to cope with a person who never considers anyone else's comfort or wishes and is serenely comfortable lying. Not only does she eventually adapt but she also finds that some people who she would previously have regarded as bad-mannered are kind and honest. Her future seems much rosier than her past - just the kind of ending I enjoy.
Miss MacFarren has the ingrained well-mannered politeness and honesty inculcated by parents and society in that era. This is no doubt a virtue and valuable personal quality but it can also be a curse when others feel no desire or obligation to play by the same rules.
This novel watches Miss McFarren struggling to cope with a person who never considers anyone else's comfort or wishes and is serenely comfortable lying. Not only does she eventually adapt but she also finds that some people who she would previously have regarded as bad-mannered are kind and honest. Her future seems much rosier than her past - just the kind of ending I enjoy.
April 1, 2025
50 something Elinor MacFarren has decided to take in a lodger to help make ends meet. WWII is just over and there is a housing shortage, so she had no trouble finding a candidate. Mrs. Banks comes to her with impeccable references, yet Miss MacFarren feels an instinctive antipathy for her. Should have listed to your gut Elinor! Mrs. Banks turns out to be a nightmare tenant, threatening not only Miss MacFarren’s peace and quiet with her irresponsible behavior, but also her furniture and object d’art and other people's pets.
This was surprisingly tense! But good. The end made the beginning stress worth it.
This was surprisingly tense! But good. The end made the beginning stress worth it.
September 26, 2023
When Miss Elinor MacFarren finds, after World War II, that she cannot continue to live in her beautiful house surrounded by all her lovely possessions without bringing in some income, she decides to let some of the rooms. But she has no idea of the mayhem that the charming Mrs Antonia Bankes will bring in her wake.
October 20, 2023
This is a humorous little read with some delightful characters and the story pops along. If you’ve ever been in a house share with someone you dislike and who eats your food, you will like this story.
April 13, 2021
2 1/2 stars
August 21, 2025
Delightful!
Read
January 13, 2026DNF - not my cup of tea
August 15, 2020
A thoroughly entertaining, light read.
January 20, 2020
See my review here:
https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2020...
https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2020...
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