Love Among the Chickens

"Read it at your leisure, when you're feeling down." -- The Paris Review
Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge, one of P. G. Wodehouse's most beloved characters, debuts in this delightful farce about a ne'er-do-well who attempts to establish a chicken farm in a remote Dorset community. The unscrupulous Ukridge ropes his struggling novelist friend Jeremy Garnet into his scheme with the promise of a rustic holiday. The young writer, eager for a vacation, is dismayed to find himself surrounded by diseased birds and disaffected creditors. Ukridge remains undaunted while an increasingly flustered Garnet attempts to woo the girl next door and win over her hostile father, an elderly scholar who is appalled by Ukridge's manners and unimpressed by Garnet's attempts at courtship. Can Ukridge survive his bad debts, and will Garnet's romance finally flower?
The character of Stanley Ukridge, based on a real-life acquaintance of the author's, proved a favorite with readers as well as the storyteller; he stars in 18 short stories and makes numerous appearances in other tales from Wodehouse's world. Ever the perfectionist, Wodehouse revised and rewrote Love Among the Chickens several times before settling on this version, which shows the author at his charming best.