A review by emmadalrymple
One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downes

3.0

3.5 stars. I love Mollie Panter-Downes’ short stories and Letters from London, and was surprised not to enjoy this more. This novel-length slice of immediate post-war life, taking place on a single summer’s day in 1946, contained ripples and glimmers of the clear-eyed but empathetic social commentary I so enjoy in her other work. It appears that Panter-Downes, like Karen Russell, may be a writer for whom short stories are the better vessel within which to capture their narrative fireflies. At least as far as I’m concerned.

Also, I remain baffled by the meaning of this quotation from the book:

"They were not happy, they could not settle, they had the distrait air of cats whose feet had not been buttered."