13 h 0 minAudiobook16 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
Sunlit roads, fine hotels, and a chauffeur at the wheel: Europe opens up, but class still has its rules.
In My Friend the Chauffeur, C. N. Williamson and A. M. Williamson turn a motor journey across Europe into a light romance. The car is still a novelty, and crossing countries by road is an adventure mostly for those with money. Along the way, travel brings the pull of love into a world shaped by wealth and manners.
At the centre stands the chauffeur, a servant whose knowledge of machines sets him apart. He sits at the front while his employers sit behind: a simple arrangement with room for gentle comedy about class. The Williamsons bring a bright, playful voice to this Edwardian world, where the scenery matters as much as the pleasures of the journey.
What you’ll discover
- The open road Travel across Europe when the motor car makes the journey itself a fresh adventure.
- A different kind of servant Meet the chauffeur, whose place at the wheel brings practical knowledge into a world of privilege.
- Sunlight and fine hotels Enjoy a romance that gives European scenery room beside love and social comedy.
- Manners with a smile Find gentle humour in the distinctions between those who drive and those who employ them.
- A bright romantic mood Settle into the Williamsons’ playful voice and the light pleasures of an Edwardian road romance.
Who will love it
Readers who love sunny travel stories, quick comic dialogue and old-fashioned romance, and anyone who likes to see Italy, Venice and the Adriatic coast through the windscreen of an early motorcar.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- An advertisement fills a garden with callers
- Terms are hard to pin down over lunch
- A bet over luggage and a rival car
- Mountain roads, a towed prince and a faithful dog
- Beechy explains her life and starts playing dolls
- Over the pass, through Cuneo and on to Milan
- Lake Como and a birthday on the water
- Maida sees Verona, Venice and the edge of Dalmatia
- What the trip is really about and how it is told
Who’s who
- Terry BarrymoreA penniless Irish lord, brother of a marquis, who poses as a chauffeur, loves Italy and wants to keep his old car and his pride.
- Ralph MorayA canny Scottish baronet and newspaper editor who invents the advertisement to help his friend and mends the world with schemes.
- Maida DestreyA beautiful, bookish twenty-year-old raised by a sisterhood, who intends to join it after one year of travel.
- Beechy KidderA clever girl of nearly seventeen, pretending to be thirteen, who treats everyone as dolls in her own private game.
- Countess DalmarMrs. Kathryn Kidder of Denver, a rich widow who wants a title and a good time, and is easily charmed.
- Prince Dalmar-KalmA tall, scarred, debt-ridden Austrian prince who follows the American ladies and the money behind them.
- FélicitéRalph's fat, hot-tempered Provençal cook and housekeeper, who works small miracles for the honor of the house.
- AiroleA timid black stray dog from a mountain village who adopts Maida and refuses to be left behind.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 13 h 0 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 16 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Read and hear Il mio amico autista in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Il mio amico autista
by C. N. Williamson; A. M. Williamson · 1905
A broke Irish lord poses as a chauffeur and drives three American ladies from the Riviera toward Dalmatia.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
My Friend the Chauffeur is a comic road romance by the husband and wife team C. N. Williamson and A. M. Williamson. It was written when a motorcar on a mountain pass was still a daring thing to own, and it sends one small gray Panhard from the French Riviera across northern Italy toward the Dalmatian coast.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
An advertisement fills a garden with callers
Ralph Moray edits a small Riviera newspaper called The Riviera Sun, and he is worried about his best friend, Lord Terence Barrymore, known as Terry. Terry is the younger brother of a stingy marquis. He has lost his money on a bad investment and at the Monte Carlo tables, and he means to sell his beloved Panhard car and go off to farm in Africa.
Ralph has a plan. He has placed an advertisement in his own paper in which an English titled amateur motorist offers to take American ladies to picturesque corners of Europe for five guineas a day each. He leaves the paper where Terry will pick it up, in the garden of his villa, the Châlet des Pins at Cap Martin. Terry reads it aloud, laughs at the foolish advertiser, and then reaches the address at the bottom. His language is not fit for the weather.
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What is My Friend the Chauffeur about?
It follows an English editor's scheme to help his penniless friend Terry, who drives three American ladies in his own car from the French Riviera across Italy toward Dalmatia, with a persistent Austrian prince always close behind.
Who tells the story?
Five people take turns: Ralph Moray, then young Beechy Kidder, then her mother the Countess, then Maida Destrey, and finally Terence Barrymore. Each voice has its own humour and sees the same trip from a different side.
Why is Terry called the Chauffeulier?
It is Beechy's private name for him. She builds it from chauffeur and a title, because she wants him to have something grander than his job while she admires his looks, his driving and his kindness.
The author
C. N. Williamson
1857–1920 · British novelist and motoring journalist
British writer and motoring journalist, novelist frequently as duo with wife A. M. Williamson.
More by C. N. Williamson; A. M. Williamson
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