Release date is 2025-11-16

Anna Siren and Tapio Riikonen

"Nykypäivien maantieritari" by Berta Ruck is a novel written in the early 20th century. It appears to be a light, romantic comedy of modern manners in which ex-officer Archie Laverock, a good-hearted “knight of the road,” is drawn into the orbit of Lucy Joy, a newly famous beauty-contest winner turned film ingénue. The story plays with chivalry in a motor-age setting and the glare of show-business celebrity, setting a young man’s ideals against fashionable society and the attentions of powerful older admirers.

The opening of the novel shows Archie driving through Surrey when he sees a man violently shake a girl in a motorcycle sidecar; he intervenes and spirits her into his car, only to discover the “assault” was a filmed scene. The girl is Lucy Joy, the nation’s newly crowned beauty, and on the drive she and Archie trade teasing revelations—he now delivers cars for a living; she is a rising film star. He visits her lively home, meeting her adoring mother, elegant aunt, cheeky younger brother, and a swarm of pets, while observing how Lucy’s sudden fame attracts high-ranking, well-heeled older men who arrive to whisk her off to dinners and dances. A few days later Frankie invites Archie to a picnic in the pines, where the visiting admiral’s presence makes the gathering stiff and awkward; brief interior glimpses of each character underline the contrast between Lucy’s glittering new world and Archie’s simmering dislike of the privileged older suitor. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Originally published: Porvoo: WSOY, 1918