The Story
"I don't know what's got into everyone this morning," said Helen Goudge crossly.
"It's Spring," said Bel.
"Nonsense!" exclaimed Miss Goudge. She frowned as she spoke and her thick black eyebrows met in a thick black bar across her forehead.
"Spring gets into people and unsettles them," Bel explained.
For Bel Lamington, orphaned and shy and making her own way, life in London has been lonely and rather bleak, despite the arrival of spring. A budding friendship with a carefree artist neighbour leads to confusion and sorrow. She thrives in her secretarial job, until her kind employer leaves on an extended trip and jealous colleagues sour that too. So, when she happens across her old school friend Louise Armstrong and her doctor father, and they invite her along on their holidays in Scotland, Bel decides to make a change. And what a change it will be, packed with new friends, new work, and-just perhaps-new romance to put the bleakness of London firmly in the past.
Bel Lamington was first published in 1961, and its sequel, Fletchers End, which continues the story of Bel's new life in Scotland, appeared the following year. The two novels are firm favourites of D. E. Stevenson fans, and are both now available in paperback from Dean Street Press. This new edition includes an autobiographical sketch by the author.
"a hallmark of gentleness..." Kirkus
Author: D. E. Stevenson
Publisher: Dean Street Press
Published: 07/01/2026
Pages: 216
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.47lbs
Size: 7.81h x 5.06w x 0.46d
ISBN: 9781917382342
About the Author
Stevenson, D. E.: - Born in Edinburgh in 1892, Dorothy Emily Stevenson came from a distinguished Scottish family, her father being David Alan Stevenson, the lighthouse engineer, first cousin to Robert Louis Stevenson.In 1916 she married Major James Reid Peploe (nephew to the artist Samuel Peploe). After the First World War they lived near Glasgow and brought up two sons and a daughter. Dorothy wrote her first novel in the 1920's, and by the 1930's was a prolific bestseller, ultimately selling more than seven million books in her career. Among her many bestselling novels was the series featuring the popular "Mrs. Tim", the wife of a British Army officer. The author often returned to Scotland and Scottish themes in her romantic, witty and well-observed novels.During the Second World War Dorothy Stevenson moved with her husband to Moffat in Scotland. It was here that most of her subsequent works were written. D.E. Stevenson died in Moffat in 1973.
Description
"I don't know what's got into everyone this morning," said Helen Goudge crossly.
"It's Spring," said Bel.
"Nonsense!" exclaimed Miss Goudge. She frowned as she spoke and her thick black eyebrows met in a thick black bar across her forehead.
"Spring gets into people and unsettles them," Bel explained.
For Bel Lamington, orphaned and shy and making her own way, life in London has been lonely and rather bleak, despite the arrival of spring. A budding friendship with a carefree artist neighbour leads to confusion and sorrow. She thrives in her secretarial job, until her kind employer leaves on an extended trip and jealous colleagues sour that too. So, when she happens across her old school friend Louise Armstrong and her doctor father, and they invite her along on their holidays in Scotland, Bel decides to make a change. And what a change it will be, packed with new friends, new work, and-just perhaps-new romance to put the bleakness of London firmly in the past.
Bel Lamington was first published in 1961, and its sequel, Fletchers End, which continues the story of Bel's new life in Scotland, appeared the following year. The two novels are firm favourites of D. E. Stevenson fans, and are both now available in paperback from Dean Street Press. This new edition includes an autobiographical sketch by the author.
"a hallmark of gentleness..." Kirkus
Author: D. E. Stevenson
Publisher: Dean Street Press
Published: 07/01/2026
Pages: 216
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.47lbs
Size: 7.81h x 5.06w x 0.46d
ISBN: 9781917382342
About the Author
Stevenson, D. E.: - Born in Edinburgh in 1892, Dorothy Emily Stevenson came from a distinguished Scottish family, her father being David Alan Stevenson, the lighthouse engineer, first cousin to Robert Louis Stevenson.In 1916 she married Major James Reid Peploe (nephew to the artist Samuel Peploe). After the First World War they lived near Glasgow and brought up two sons and a daughter. Dorothy wrote her first novel in the 1920's, and by the 1930's was a prolific bestseller, ultimately selling more than seven million books in her career. Among her many bestselling novels was the series featuring the popular "Mrs. Tim", the wife of a British Army officer. The author often returned to Scotland and Scottish themes in her romantic, witty and well-observed novels.During the Second World War Dorothy Stevenson moved with her husband to Moffat in Scotland. It was here that most of her subsequent works were written. D.E. Stevenson died in Moffat in 1973.
