Was able to read this in Kindle format by borrowing it from someone for two weeks. The Kindle format sometimes misses punctuation, which can be distracting, but to a tolerable degree.
This book is technically two books put together, but I understand that they have pretty much always been published together, and there is nothing to indicate where one stops and the other begins.
Hester Christie is the wife of a military man, which means that her life can change at any moment if her husband is assigned to a new area. She's only in her early 30's and you can tell that she feels fairly young and fresh in spite of a hectic life.
The first half of the book is very light on plot. It seems that much of it is drawn from D.E. Stevenson's own journals, and is therefore at least somewhat autobiographical. At the beginning we are introduced to Hester's household, family, and get a few entertaining episodes. Then her husband is moved to a post in Scotland, so they make the move and attempt to fit in to their new surroundings and find people that they can befriend.
The second half of the book was rather nicer to read, as Hester and her daughter get to take a two-week vacation in the highlands of Scotland with a new friend. There are some slightly more substantial plot threads here--elopement, engagement, feuding and general quirkiness of various neighbors.

An intriguing character is Tony Morley, one of Hester's husband's colleagues in the regiment. He is a witty, humorous friend who is both trustworthy and alarmingly unpredictable. Unfortunately he seems to be a little too attached to Hester, though she is unaware of it. He keeps himself in check and manages to be a pretty unselfish, respectable guy in spite of his feelings, but it would be nice if in the ensuing books he found somebody for himself.

I loved that there were a few incidental references to Jane Austen. In fact, one time Hester relates a comment that she made to her husband and says he didn't pick up on the quotation. I mulled this over after she said it was a quotation, because it sounded vaguely familiar to me. Then I realized--she was quoting almost verbatim, not from one of Jane Austen's novels, but from one of her letters! Now that is a Janeite.

This book is probably not where I would recommend someone should start if reading D.E. Stevenson for the first time, but it was enjoyable enough, and D.E. Stevenson's writing was, as always, as cozy as a cup of tea. ( )

Absolutely delightful! I laughed out loud several times at the antics that took place in this light-hearted novel of life as a military man’s wife between the wars in Great Britain. When Hester Christie receives a journal for her birthday from her husband Tim she keeps the daily missive up to date with detailed entries which serve as the novel’s basis and open her life to the reader’s scrutiny.

The characters are extremely well drawn but Hester is the star here and her wise and witty pronouncements are what is important. Here, where she describes the terribly annoying Mrs. McTurk, I laughed out loud:

”Her voice is admirably suited for conversation in a railway train, its strident note can be heard with ease. Bridges leap at us with a roar, mountains peer in at the window and vanish, but above all these earsplitting noises come the strident voice in futile discourse.” (Page 170)

But Hester is not above listening to the wise Mrs. Louden:

”It’s a queer thing to me that women are always craiking for sons---it’s the daughters who stay with you and remain your own, even if they marry. It’s the daughters who lighten the darkness when you’re left alone to sit by the fire, and the days draw in, and the night gets longer and sneller, and the light has gone out of your life.” (Page 127)

Couldn’t agree with you more Mrs. Louden. ( )

I never think I'd like to go back in time to have lived in another era. That was until I read about Mrs. Tim. What I wouldn't give to be besties with this woman! Mrs. Tim is so modern and lively and droll and fun. This book, in diary form, was hilarious! Lots of clipped sentences, wry observations, and humorous exploits. It's a fast-paced, lively, and well-scrutinized look at one woman's life between the wars. ( )

This is the first volume in the absolutely charming series about the wife of a British Army Major as she follows her husband from posting to posting. In this first volume we meet all the characters who will play important roles in the subsequent books: Major Morley, an aristocratic officer who is clearly taken by our heroine, Hester, Mrs. Loudon, the rather gruff, but loveable Scottish widow who befriends Hester, Hester's children, Bryan & the irrespressible Betty, her ditzy friend, Grace and her faithful servant Annie.

Nothing much happens in the grand scheme of things, but the story is so English (as Americans like to think of the English) and so charming that I just wanted the book to go on & on.In the end, all upsets have been amicably settled and Mr.s Tim is looking forward to being reunited with her husband and going on to her next adventure. ( )

Made me laugh at times. It was a good book for a lazy vacation in Cape Cod. ( )