The summer day was drawing to a close and dusk had fallen on Blandings Castle, shrouding from view the ancient battlements, dulling the silver surface of the lake and causing Lord Elmsworth's supreme Berkshire sow Empress of Blandings to leave the open air portion of her sty and withdraw into the covered shed where she did her sleeping.
A Pelican at Blandings by P. G. Wodehouse. Is that a great way to start a book, or what? It starts in the heavens and funnels down from the celestial grandeur of the dusk sky, to the architectural magnificence of the castle, to the ground-level beauty of the lake, to a pig shed. And with that soft landing, we are in the middle of the action at Blandings Castle.
I haven't read any of the other Blandings Castle books and this is penultimate book in the series. But I don't think it is necessary to read them in publication order. They are all funny.
This is one of my favorite Overlook Press "Collector Editions" of Wodehouse's books. I treasure the ones I have and covet the rest of them. I kind of wish Overlook had re-published it with its original American title, No Nudes is Good Nudes. How hilarious!