Dodo Wonders - E. F. Benson

"Dodo Wonders" is the third and last of the "Dodo" novels by E.F. Benson, author of the "Mapp and Lucia" series as well as numerous stand-alone novels and short stories. Dodo was rumored to be based on Lady Margot Asquith; when questioned about it, Lady Asquith reportedly replied that Benson had taken nothing from her for the character of Dodo "except her drawing-room." "Dodo Wonders" takes Benson's characters, the glittering socialite Lady Dodo Chesterford, her husband, and friends into World War I-era England. The story follows Dodo and her peers through the build-up, outbreak, and catastrophic years of the war. Benson is clever as always in putting his characters in situations where they must either adapt or break and never loses his sense of humor while doing it. "Dodo Wonders" manages to be as cheerful and bubbly as the other novels in the series while retaining a basic sense of sobriety about its subject matter.Dodo is a charming, vivid heroine with whom it becomes almost a pleasure to move through wartime.