Iris in winter

the long version

https://www.amazon.com/Iris-Winter-Elizabeth-Cadell-ebook/dp/B01GZ8YBMS: High Ambo, in England, is the setting. It is winter, and Caroline West—a very human, placid and unexcitable person, has gone there to escape her late husband’s relatives. Like so many good-hearted people, she is immediately put upon.
Caroline’s sister Iris comes first, full of impulse and determination to be a reporter—an ambition abruptly deflected by a handsome young schoolmaster—an authority on birds.
Then comes Robert, with his sweet, ingenuous fiancee Polly, and thus making the three-ring circus of a genuine Cadell household.
A great number of little boys with big ears and caps are supporting players—English private school variety.
Altogether, this book is in the happiest tradition of the English social comedy, and those who want to find as much life and laughter as possible between the covers of a novel will enjoy reading it.