Dr. Oliver Hay-Smythe seemed to have met a modern-day Cinderella! Ever since Bertha’s father had remarried, the kindhearted woman had been put upon by her family. She appeared to live in her stepsister’s shadow, stuck doing the housework and wearing hand-me-downs! The doctor was about to change all that. In fact, he was about to change Bertha’s entire world.
Review
In her post about reading Betty Neels, Sunita referred to a type of heroine Neels began writing later in her career – the little matchgirl heroine. The heroine here, dear Bertha, is such a heroine. I mean … Bertha as the name of a heroine for a story written in the mid 1990s? Oh and the title is a bit misleading as the only bit about Christmas is that some of the story takes place just before it.
Bertha Soames is that downtrodden heroine of Neelsdom. Her father (who is never a part of this story) remarried after her mother’s death and wow did he pick a harridan. Harridan comes complete with a daughter named Clare who is pretty while Bertha is … not pretty. Bertha is short, tiny, has a button nose, her hair pulled back in a horrid bun, and is wearing a shrimp pink ghastly dress (though her eyes are lovely) when Oliver first sees her – basically a navvy at her own birthday party.
Dr. Hay-Smythe, [is a] hard-working in his profession and already respected by older colleagues, a man who would never pass a stray kitten or a lost dog and who went out of his way to make life easy for anyone in trouble …
Of course Oliver whisks her away, pops her in his dark grey Rolls Royce and takes her off for a lovely, comforting dinner of bangers and mash at a local pub. Neels did not resort to her frequent description of this meal as “perfectly cooked” (as she does later) but the atmosphere is wonderful and Bertha enjoys herself. Mrs. Soames’s shrewish (though tempered when she notices Oliver standing beside her step-daughter) reaction to Bertha not having been on hand to act as a servant tells the doctor all he needs to know of this woman.
‘I met a girl this evening, Freddie (the black lab) —a plain girl with beautiful eyes and wearing a truly awful frock. An uninteresting creature at first glance, but somehow I feel that isn’t a true picture. She has a delightful voice—very quiet. She needs to get away from that ghastly stepmother too. I must think of something.’
Oliver, though, is a smart man and soon cooks up a scheme to get Bertha out of the house and away from her step-relations. He even doesn’t bat an eye at the awful clothes Bertha wears – mostly cast offs from her step-sister who I’d swear buys hideous clothes only so she can give them to Bertha and make her look awful. An acid yellow two piece jersey outfit and a lime green one are mentioned to go along with the shrimp pink floofy dress.
Soon it’s obvious that lovely Clare, who can charm and or lie her way through anything and come out looking great, has set her sights on Oliver as the perfect husband – not that she loves him, mind you. Oliver just has scads of money and a lovely country home in Oxfordshire. With a perfect London flat, Clare’s life will be set. Only Clare best not count her chickens quite yet.
So Bertha has been groomed to be a self effacing little thing although her manners are perfect. This is noted by those whose opinions Oliver counts on. Bertha is fearless when faced with danger – as happens twice, and she adores the old pet donkey Oliver keeps in Oxfordshire. Clare is given every opportunity to prove she’s a better person than Oliver knows her to be yet Clare fails every test. She really is a piece of work to go along with her mother. Oliver is not a rude Dutch doctor. He’s quiet, well mannered, shrewd, and observant. He’s also kind to elderly cats.
Look for Bertha to begin to come out of her shell a little and zing her family with pointed remarks. Watch how brilliantly Oliver manipulates Mrs. Soames and her daughter. It’s a thing of beauty. And I can see why Bertha’s Aunt Agatha (watch out for British women named Agatha) despises Mrs. Soames and Clare. But yeah, honestly expect that Oliver and Bertha to settle down into a lovely relationship where they will probably try and out-do each other in kindnesses to each other and the world. They’re both just that type of person. B
~Jayne
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Jayne
Another long time reader who read romance novels in her teens, then took a long break before started back again about 25 years ago. She enjoys historical romance/fiction best, likes contemporaries, action- adventure and mysteries, will read suspense if there’s no TSTL characters and is currently reading more fantasy and SciFi.
