Cold Comfort Farm

Flora writes four letters to distant relations. The reply that intrigues her most comes from the Starkadder family, who owns Cold Comfort Farm in Sussex. Flora’s cousin Judith Starkadder writes back and hints that the family needs to make amends for a great wrong done to Flora’s father. Judith will not explain the circumstances. Flora, a pragmatic young woman who believes in life should be tidy, senses chaos, and she sets out on a mission to tidy up the lives of the Starkadders.

Cold Comfort Farm is introduced to the reader as a gloomy place. The family consists of Judith, her husband Amos, their children Reuben, Seth, and Elfine, and a variety of cousins. They all have sullen, bleak attitude towards life that affects everyone around them: “It will readily be understood that the general feeling among the farm-hands was not exactly one of hilarity” (30). Mother Judith seems to harbor an unnatural affection for her handsome son Seth, who has dallied with most of the village maidens.

The superstitious old servant Adam prefers to talk to the cows instead of the family and is appalled that he must drive to town to retrieve Miss Flora. When he meets her at the station, he darkly alludes to a family curse. When Flora arrives at the farm, she immediately requests a light meal in her room and ignores the morose atmosphere surrounding her.

Flora determines to begin sorting out the family’s affairs the next day. She has armed herself with two books by her favorite inspirational author, Abbe Fausse-Maigre. He has written the Pensees and The Higher Common Sense, two guides for tackling life’s difficult problems. Flora knows she will need his guidance in dealing with the Starkadder clan.

Flora is awakened by the sound of an argument between Reuben and Adam in the courtyard below because one of the cows has lost her wooden leg. The four cows are aptly named Careless, Pointless, Aimless, and Hopeless. Adam says, “I know what goes on in the hearts of the dumb beasts, wi’ out spyin’ round on them to see where they leaves their legs, from morn till eve” (41). Flora tells them to be quiet and goes back to sleep.

When she eventually wakes, Flora discovers that she likes her room, but the curtains are in need of a laundering. She goes downstairs for breakfast, finding only Adam there cleaning up the dishes. She is appalled to see him using a stick to scrape the plates instead of a sponge mop or dishrag.

Adam tells Flora that the family is ruled by the will of the mysterious Aunt Ada Doom. Adam says, “Her hand lies on us like iron, Robert Poste’s child. But she never leaves her room, and she never sees no one but Miss Judith” (45).

Flora goes in search of Judith to request that her curtains be washed. On the way, she meets young cousin Elfine, who is odd and flighty. Adam dotes on the girl and worries that she runs about the countryside alone at night. When Flora enters Judith’s room, she encounters a shrine to Seth, made up of photographs. Judith says that the maid named Meriam will clean the curtains, but only after recovering from giving birth to Seth’s latest illegitimate offspring.

Flora goes to Meriam’s house. The girl already has four babies and assumes she will have another the following spring. Flora gives her a brief lesson on birth control. Meriam is alarmed to go against nature, but Flora replies, “Nature is all very well in her place, but she must not be allowed to make things untidy” (56).

Soon, Meriam’s mother, Mrs. Beetle, arrives on the scene. Flora is impressed by her rationality in spite of the fact that the woman plans to hire out her four grandchildren as jazz musicians in a London club, at some point in the future. After Flora leaves, Meriam tells her mother about Flora’s wicked birth control advice. Mrs. Beetle seems to approve of the notion.