A Damsel in Distress

George Bevan, a successful American composer working in London, is minding his own business when a beautiful young woman dives into his taxi to escape a pursuer. He falls for her at once, follows the trail to a stately country house, and discovers she is Lady Maud Marsh, already in love with a man her family will not name. Published in 1919, this is Wodehouse at his sunniest, a farce of mistaken identities, meddling relatives, and a below-stairs betting pool run by the household staff. The plotting is clockwork and the dialogue fizzes, though the young lovers keep tripping over their own good intentions. It later became a film and a stage musical. Read it free as a PDF or EPUB edition.