Jeeves and the Leap of Faith: A Novel in Homage to P. G. Wodehouse

by Ben Schott

Overview

Jeeves and Wooster return in a new espionage caper full of japes, high jinks, and jiggery-pokery in a series that is “impossible to read without grinning idiotically” (Evening Standard).
 
The Drones club’s in peril. Gussie’s in love. Spode’s on the war path. Oh, and His Majesty’s Government needs a favor . . .
 
I say! It’s a good thing Bertie’s back, what?
 
In his eagerly anticipated sequel to Jeeves and the King of Clubs, Ben Schott leads Jeeves and Wooster on another elegantly uproarious escapade.
 
From the mean streets of Mayfair to the scheming spires of Cambridge, we encounter a joyous cast of characters: chiseling painters and criminal bookies, eccentric philosophers and dodgy clairvoyants, appalling poets and pocket dictators, vexatious aunts and their vicious hounds.
 
But that’s not all:
Who is ICEBERG, and why is he covered in chalk?
Why is Jeeves reading Winnie-the-Pooh?
What is seven across and eighty-five down?
How do you play Russian Roulette at The Savoy?
 
These questions, and more, are answered in Jeeves and the Leap of Faith — an homage to P.G. Wodehouse, authorized by his estate, and essential reading for fans of The Master.
 
Tinkety-tonk!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316541046
Publisher:	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date:	10/13/2020
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	1,060,618
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Ben Schott is the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of Schott's Miscellany and the Schott's Almanac series. His first novel in homage to P.G. Wodehouse was Jeeves and the King of Clubs. A graduate of Cambridge University, he enjoyed a career as a photographer before becoming a writer. He is a regular columnist for Bon Appetit, Inc., Playboy, and the New York Times, and a frequent contributor to many other outlets, including The Guardian, Vanity Fair, the Paris Review, and more. He lives in New York City and London.

Editorial Reviews

The whirligigging plot almost spins out of control here, but don't worry: Jeeves takes care of that just fine. Great fun—another round, please!—Booklist

Wodehouse’s droll byplay between master and servant is emulated well… [Schott] succeeds at keeping his many plates spinning. This’ll be a hoot for Wodehouse fans.—Publishers Weekly

This homage to P.G. Wodehouse is so good that a blind reading (i.e. a genuine ‘Plum’ versus Schott’s pastiche) would be a tricky call. Everything is in its place...the sheer luxury, wealth and self-assurance of Bertie’s world is brilliantly evoked with all its enviable light-heartedness intact. A masterpiece in every sense.

—Daily Mail

Schott’s second foray into Wooster world (after Jeeves and the King of Clubs) is as dazzling as his first, with brilliant puns and laugh-out-loud prose. Everything one expects from Wodehouse is here: an outlandish plot, beloved characters, a Wooster aunt on the matrimonial warpath, gambling, nightclubs, and, inevitably, Jeeves to the rescue... [it's] a perfectly frothy concoction for invoking joy and laughter. For the uninitiated, Schott provides a glossary, placing characters and events into historical and literary context. 
VERDICT It’s a fizzer, chaps. An absolute corker.
 —Library Journal Starred Review

From the Publisher

★ 10/01/2020

When P.G. Wodehouse died in 1975, it seemed that the whimsical world of Jeeves and Wooster had reached its natural conclusion. Thankfully, Schott (Schott's Original Miscellany), chosen by the Wodehouse estate to revive the characters, continues the magic. Schott's second foray into Wooster world (after Jeeves and the King of Clubs) is as dazzling as his first, with brilliant puns and laugh-out-loud prose. Everything one expects from Wodehouse is here: an outlandish plot, beloved characters, a Wooster aunt on the matrimonial warpath, gambling, nightclubs, and, inevitably, Jeeves to the rescue. Will Bertie Wooster have to go night-climbing (a popular pastime at Oxford and Cambridge Universities) even though it is prohibited? Will blackmail and dubious characters such as Spode and Whipplesnaith, prototype blackshirts, prevail? Stir in myriad love interests, cryptic crosswords, newts, broken engagements, and the Junior Ganymede club, whose members, it transpires, are a front for the British Intelligence Services, and you have a perfectly frothy concoction for invoking joy and laughter. For the unitiated, Schott provides a glossary, placing characters and events into historical and literary context. VERDICT It's a fizzer, chaps. An absolute corker.—Penelope J.M. Klein, Edinburgh, Scotland

Library Journal

2020-09-02
A second Jeeves novel authorized by the Wodehouse estate.

What humorless monster doesn’t love the Jeeves books? These confections feature the English aristocrat Bertie Wooster getting himself into the soup and Jeeves, his “gentleman’s gentleman,” fishing him out again. In a typical story, Bertie gets engaged to the wrong girl, offends a muscular and irascible gentleman, attempts to extricate a pal from a jam, steals a policeman’s helmet or a piece of antique silver as ugly as it is valuable, runs afoul of a stern aunt, and insists on wearing an objectionable garment, and then, with a modest flick of the wrist, Jeeves sets everything right again. Only 11 Jeeves novels and a few dozen short stories are what Bertie might have called the genuine article—written by P.G. Wodehouse himself—but the estate has authorized Schott to expand the canon, and this is his second outing. True to form, Schott’s Bertie spends his time dodging undesirable would-be fiancees, arriving late to meals with Aunt Agatha, masquerading as a clergyman, and climbing the walls of Cambridge University buildings while Jeeves manipulates everything and everyone toward a happy resolution. The greatest pleasure of Wodehouse’s Jeeves books lay in his wordplay: the delicious contrast between Bertie’s breezy Jazz Age slang and Jeeves’ precise formality. Wodehouse’s Jeeves knows more than you do about pretty much everything, but he never needs to show off; it’s part of Wodehouse’s genius to make the reader feel smart. Schott, alas, does the opposite. Unlike Jeeves, who appears at the narrator’s elbow to supply the mot juste exactly—and only—when it’s needed, Schott opens his reference library and shakes it upside down over the text. Schott inserted an element of espionage into his first Jeeves novel, and he continues it here, raising the stakes slightly, which may or may not be what readers want from a Jeeves novel.

It's agreeable enough, but Schott is no Wodehouse.

Kirkus Reviews