Innes, Michael - Christmas at Candleshoe / Candleshoe (1953)

Review by Nick Fuller

4/5

An interesting little Innes, purely of the adventure thriller sort. A young American helps a boy and his friends to defend Candleshoe Manor from a gang of art thieves, none of whom ever so much as talk or are seen. There is extremely little plot to cover 200-odd pages, yet the book doesn’t feel padded or trivial: a testament to Innes’s gift of storytelling that he can keep the reader thoroughly engrossed without plot twists, action, excitement or detection.

A mouldering old manor house under siege by a gang of art thieves. The garrison is a couple of doddering old folk, an American mother and son visiting serendipitously, and a group of adventurous kids. Innes, too, again plays up the sad plight of impoverished country gentry under a socialist government. Fun, quick read. (By the way, there is no role in this book for the young Jodie Foster, so Disney obviously messed around with the plot.)

Wyatt James