Barsetshire but not as Trollope knew it, 23 Oct 2008
Wild Strawberries was published in 1934, and is very much of its era; there's a touch of the Provincial Lady in all its chaotic comings and goings and one reader wrote of Thirkell's 'Wodehousian' management of her characters. To be honest, she falls short of EM Delafield and way, way short of Wodehouse and her humour today strikes me as rather dated and heavy-handed. But this would be an engaging read during a summer afternoon with a jug of Pimms on hand (but preferably from a foxed and musty-smelling old Penguin to achieve the full nostalgic effect).
This was escapism for your grandmother's generation, no doubt borrowed from Boots' library during the years when one world war was too vivid a memory and we were hurtling too fast headlong into the next. And it's still worth reading, if only for Thirkell's description of a lunch date between an oblivious, self-satisfied young man and two jealous young women scratchily scoring points off each other ,,, just as vividly funny today as when it was written.
Thirkell was extraordinarily well-connected; grand-daughter of Burne-Jones, cousin to Baldwin and Kipling; fans of Persephone Books might be familiar with her brother Denis Mackail who wrote Greenery Street.

Barsetshire but not as Trollope knew it, 23 Oct 2008
Wild Strawberries was published in 1934, and is very much of its era; there's a touch of the Provincial Lady in all its chaotic comings and goings and one reader wrote of Thirkell's 'Wodehousian' management of her characters. To be honest, she falls short of EM Delafield and way, way short of Wodehouse and her humour today strikes me as rather dated and heavy-handed. But this would be an engaging read during a summer afternoon with a jug of Pimms on hand (but preferably from a foxed and musty-smelling old Penguin to achieve the full nostalgic effect).
This was escapism for your grandmother's generation, no doubt borrowed from Boots' library during the years when one world war was too vivid a memory and we were hurtling too fast headlong into the next. And it's still worth reading, if only for Thirkell's description of a lunch date between an oblivious, self-satisfied young man and two jealous young women scratchily scoring points off each other ,,, just as vividly funny today as when it was written.
Thirkell was extraordinarily well-connected; grand-daughter of Burne-Jones, cousin to Baldwin and Kipling; fans of Persephone Books might be familiar with her brother Denis Mackail who wrote Greenery Street.

A light, high rising, amusing little English soufflé., 03 Jul 2004
It is good to see Angela Thirkell's light novels once more receiving attention. "High Rising" is one of her first novels, dating from 1933. There were many English novelists in the 1930s who mined the traditionally English vein of gentle parody, graceful writing, mild absurdity, and class distinction. Much handsomer than most of them, and exhibiting the influence of Jane Austen and Anthony Trollope, Angela Thirkell peopled her novels with descendants of characters found in the latter's Barsetshire novels.

If that gives an idea of the flavour and style that might be enjoyed in her books, I can add that this one chronicles the dizzy doings of Laura Morland, a novelists, who juggles the demands of four sons, her publisher, her secretary, her formidable maid Stoker, and a friend George Knox whom most think should be more than a friend to her. The custom of "coming to tea" sets them all interacting. Watch for the number of verbs Angela Thirkell can employ - from plunge, to insinuate - to describe how characters can enter a room.

Barsetshire but not as Trollope knew it, 23 Oct 2008
Wild Strawberries was published in 1934, and is very much of its era; there's a touch of the Provincial Lady in all its chaotic comings and goings and one reader wrote of Thirkell's 'Wodehousian' management of her characters. To be honest, she falls short of EM Delafield and way, way short of Wodehouse and her humour today strikes me as rather dated and heavy-handed. But this would be an engaging read during a summer afternoon with a jug of Pimms on hand (but preferably from a foxed and musty-smelling old Penguin to achieve the full nostalgic effect).
This was escapism for your grandmother's generation, no doubt borrowed from Boots' library during the years when one world war was too vivid a memory and we were hurtling too fast headlong into the next. And it's still worth reading, if only for Thirkell's description of a lunch date between an oblivious, self-satisfied young man and two jealous young women scratchily scoring points off each other ,,, just as vividly funny today as when it was written.
Thirkell was extraordinarily well-connected; grand-daughter of Burne-Jones, cousin to Baldwin and Kipling; fans of Persephone Books might be familiar with her brother Denis Mackail who wrote Greenery Street.

A light, high rising, amusing little English soufflé., 03 Jul 2004
It is good to see Angela Thirkell's light novels once more receiving attention. "High Rising" is one of her first novels, dating from 1933. There were many English novelists in the 1930s who mined the traditionally English vein of gentle parody, graceful writing, mild absurdity, and class distinction. Much handsomer than most of them, and exhibiting the influence of Jane Austen and Anthony Trollope, Angela Thirkell peopled her novels with descendants of characters found in the latter's Barsetshire novels.

If that gives an idea of the flavour and style that might be enjoyed in her books, I can add that this one chronicles the dizzy doings of Laura Morland, a novelists, who juggles the demands of four sons, her publisher, her secretary, her formidable maid Stoker, and a friend George Knox whom most think should be more than a friend to her. The custom of "coming to tea" sets them all interacting. Watch for the number of verbs Angela Thirkell can employ - from plunge, to insinuate - to describe how characters can enter a room.

Before Lunch by Angela Thirkell, 16 Apr 2006
I believe this to be the best novel written by Angela Thirkell. The gentle humour and total evocation of the times are outstanding. There is the usual older woman, younger man not quite romance but tender feelings which, due to duty to others, never turn into anything more. A very different world to today. The sense of the countryside and time and place are so different to today, but it is a modern theme in that people group together to prevent building taking place on Pooker's piece. I also find the characters fascinating, in particular, the way the servants appear to run everything in their own inimitable way.

Barsetshire but not as Trollope knew it, 23 Oct 2008
Wild Strawberries was published in 1934, and is very much of its era; there's a touch of the Provincial Lady in all its chaotic comings and goings and one reader wrote of Thirkell's 'Wodehousian' management of her characters. To be honest, she falls short of EM Delafield and way, way short of Wodehouse and her humour today strikes me as rather dated and heavy-handed. But this would be an engaging read during a summer afternoon with a jug of Pimms on hand (but preferably from a foxed and musty-smelling old Penguin to achieve the full nostalgic effect).
This was escapism for your grandmother's generation, no doubt borrowed from Boots' library during the years when one world war was too vivid a memory and we were hurtling too fast headlong into the next. And it's still worth reading, if only for Thirkell's description of a lunch date between an oblivious, self-satisfied young man and two jealous young women scratchily scoring points off each other ,,, just as vividly funny today as when it was written.
Thirkell was extraordinarily well-connected; grand-daughter of Burne-Jones, cousin to Baldwin and Kipling; fans of Persephone Books might be familiar with her brother Denis Mackail who wrote Greenery Street.

A light, high rising, amusing little English soufflé., 03 Jul 2004
It is good to see Angela Thirkell's light novels once more receiving attention. "High Rising" is one of her first novels, dating from 1933. There were many English novelists in the 1930s who mined the traditionally English vein of gentle parody, graceful writing, mild absurdity, and class distinction. Much handsomer than most of them, and exhibiting the influence of Jane Austen and Anthony Trollope, Angela Thirkell peopled her novels with descendants of characters found in the latter's Barsetshire novels.

If that gives an idea of the flavour and style that might be enjoyed in her books, I can add that this one chronicles the dizzy doings of Laura Morland, a novelists, who juggles the demands of four sons, her publisher, her secretary, her formidable maid Stoker, and a friend George Knox whom most think should be more than a friend to her. The custom of "coming to tea" sets them all interacting. Watch for the number of verbs Angela Thirkell can employ - from plunge, to insinuate - to describe how characters can enter a room.

Before Lunch by Angela Thirkell, 16 Apr 2006
I believe this to be the best novel written by Angela Thirkell. The gentle humour and total evocation of the times are outstanding. There is the usual older woman, younger man not quite romance but tender feelings which, due to duty to others, never turn into anything more. A very different world to today. The sense of the countryside and time and place are so different to today, but it is a modern theme in that people group together to prevent building taking place on Pooker's piece. I also find the characters fascinating, in particular, the way the servants appear to run everything in their own inimitable way.

I agree about the poor reprinting but the book itself is fun, 08 May 1998
I enjoyed the book as I enjoy all of Thirkell's books that I can find. I am happy that Moyer Bell is reprinting them regularly - I believe one is due this spring. I don't like the Carroll & Graff reprints either because the typeset is so sloppy and blurred, it is annoying.

I have always thought that Thirkell's books are great books to read on the beach, in the plane or on other occasions when you want something entertaining, light and funny. If you can't stand the silly inanity of authors like Danielle Steele, Rosamund Pilcher or Mary Higgins Clark but you want something light and entertaining to read, Thirkell is your man. (Or woman, I should say.)

Carroll Graff print quality is very poor., 16 Sep 1997
I first read Ms. Thirkell's novels in the late 70s, and was immediately entranced. It is all the more disappointing, therefore, to see these terrible Carroll Graff reprints. The type is blurred and illegible, and the whole book quality is offputting to the reader. In comparison to the Moyer Bell reprints, which, while they have an awful lot of typographical errors, are well produced paperbacks, these Carroll Graff reprints are unacceptably bad. I can't believe that the editors thought they could get away with such poor quality for readers of Thirkell, who are likely, I suspect, to be rather discriminating consumers.

Barsetshire but not as Trollope knew it, 23 Oct 2008
Wild Strawberries was published in 1934, and is very much of its era; there's a touch of the Provincial Lady in all its chaotic comings and goings and one reader wrote of Thirkell's 'Wodehousian' management of her characters. To be honest, she falls short of EM Delafield and way, way short of Wodehouse and her humour today strikes me as rather dated and heavy-handed. But this would be an engaging read during a summer afternoon with a jug of Pimms on hand (but preferably from a foxed and musty-smelling old Penguin to achieve the full nostalgic effect).
This was escapism for your grandmother's generation, no doubt borrowed from Boots' library during the years when one world war was too vivid a memory and we were hurtling too fast headlong into the next. And it's still worth reading, if only for Thirkell's description of a lunch date between an oblivious, self-satisfied young man and two jealous young women scratchily scoring points off each other ,,, just as vividly funny today as when it was written.
Thirkell was extraordinarily well-connected; grand-daughter of Burne-Jones, cousin to Baldwin and Kipling; fans of Persephone Books might be familiar with her brother Denis Mackail who wrote Greenery Street.

A light, high rising, amusing little English soufflé., 03 Jul 2004
It is good to see Angela Thirkell's light novels once more receiving attention. "High Rising" is one of her first novels, dating from 1933. There were many English novelists in the 1930s who mined the traditionally English vein of gentle parody, graceful writing, mild absurdity, and class distinction. Much handsomer than most of them, and exhibiting the influence of Jane Austen and Anthony Trollope, Angela Thirkell peopled her novels with descendants of characters found in the latter's Barsetshire novels.

If that gives an idea of the flavour and style that might be enjoyed in her books, I can add that this one chronicles the dizzy doings of Laura Morland, a novelists, who juggles the demands of four sons, her publisher, her secretary, her formidable maid Stoker, and a friend George Knox whom most think should be more than a friend to her. The custom of "coming to tea" sets them all interacting. Watch for the number of verbs Angela Thirkell can employ - from plunge, to insinuate - to describe how characters can enter a room.

Before Lunch by Angela Thirkell, 16 Apr 2006
I believe this to be the best novel written by Angela Thirkell. The gentle humour and total evocation of the times are outstanding. There is the usual older woman, younger man not quite romance but tender feelings which, due to duty to others, never turn into anything more. A very different world to today. The sense of the countryside and time and place are so different to today, but it is a modern theme in that people group together to prevent building taking place on Pooker's piece. I also find the characters fascinating, in particular, the way the servants appear to run everything in their own inimitable way.

I agree about the poor reprinting but the book itself is fun, 08 May 1998
I enjoyed the book as I enjoy all of Thirkell's books that I can find. I am happy that Moyer Bell is reprinting them regularly - I believe one is due this spring. I don't like the Carroll & Graff reprints either because the typeset is so sloppy and blurred, it is annoying.

I have always thought that Thirkell's books are great books to read on the beach, in the plane or on other occasions when you want something entertaining, light and funny. If you can't stand the silly inanity of authors like Danielle Steele, Rosamund Pilcher or Mary Higgins Clark but you want something light and entertaining to read, Thirkell is your man. (Or woman, I should say.)

Carroll Graff print quality is very poor., 16 Sep 1997
I first read Ms. Thirkell's novels in the late 70s, and was immediately entranced. It is all the more disappointing, therefore, to see these terrible Carroll Graff reprints. The type is blurred and illegible, and the whole book quality is offputting to the reader. In comparison to the Moyer Bell reprints, which, while they have an awful lot of typographical errors, are well produced paperbacks, these Carroll Graff reprints are unacceptably bad. I can't believe that the editors thought they could get away with such poor quality for readers of Thirkell, who are likely, I suspect, to be rather discriminating consumers.

Before Lunch by Angela Thirkell, 16 Apr 2006
I believe this to be the best novel written by Angela Thirkell. The gentle humour and total evocation of the times are outstanding. There is the usual older woman, younger man not quite romance but tender feelings which, due to duty to others, never turn into anything more. A very different world to today. The sense of the countryside and time and place are so different to today, but it is a modern theme in that people group together to prevent building taking place on Pooker's piece. I also find the characters fascinating, in particular, the way the servants appear to run everything in their own inimitable way.

Barsetshire but not as Trollope knew it, 23 Oct 2008
Wild Strawberries was published in 1934, and is very much of its era; there's a touch of the Provincial Lady in all its chaotic comings and goings and one reader wrote of Thirkell's 'Wodehousian' management of her characters. To be honest, she falls short of EM Delafield and way, way short of Wodehouse and her humour today strikes me as rather dated and heavy-handed. But this would be an engaging read during a summer afternoon with a jug of Pimms on hand (but preferably from a foxed and musty-smelling old Penguin to achieve the full nostalgic effect).
This was escapism for your grandmother's generation, no doubt borrowed from Boots' library during the years when one world war was too vivid a memory and we were hurtling too fast headlong into the next. And it's still worth reading, if only for Thirkell's description of a lunch date between an oblivious, self-satisfied young man and two jealous young women scratchily scoring points off each other ,,, just as vividly funny today as when it was written.
Thirkell was extraordinarily well-connected; grand-daughter of Burne-Jones, cousin to Baldwin and Kipling; fans of Persephone Books might be familiar with her brother Denis Mackail who wrote Greenery Street.

A light, high rising, amusing little English soufflé., 03 Jul 2004
It is good to see Angela Thirkell's light novels once more receiving attention. "High Rising" is one of her first novels, dating from 1933. There were many English novelists in the 1930s who mined the traditionally English vein of gentle parody, graceful writing, mild absurdity, and class distinction. Much handsomer than most of them, and exhibiting the influence of Jane Austen and Anthony Trollope, Angela Thirkell peopled her novels with descendants of characters found in the latter's Barsetshire novels.

If that gives an idea of the flavour and style that might be enjoyed in her books, I can add that this one chronicles the dizzy doings of Laura Morland, a novelists, who juggles the demands of four sons, her publisher, her secretary, her formidable maid Stoker, and a friend George Knox whom most think should be more than a friend to her. The custom of "coming to tea" sets them all interacting. Watch for the number of verbs Angela Thirkell can employ - from plunge, to insinuate - to describe how characters can enter a room.

Before Lunch by Angela Thirkell, 16 Apr 2006
I believe this to be the best novel written by Angela Thirkell. The gentle humour and total evocation of the times are outstanding. There is the usual older woman, younger man not quite romance but tender feelings which, due to duty to others, never turn into anything more. A very different world to today. The sense of the countryside and time and place are so different to today, but it is a modern theme in that people group together to prevent building taking place on Pooker's piece. I also find the characters fascinating, in particular, the way the servants appear to run everything in their own inimitable way.

I agree about the poor reprinting but the book itself is fun, 08 May 1998
I enjoyed the book as I enjoy all of Thirkell's books that I can find. I am happy that Moyer Bell is reprinting them regularly - I believe one is due this spring. I don't like the Carroll & Graff reprints either because the typeset is so sloppy and blurred, it is annoying.

I have always thought that Thirkell's books are great books to read on the beach, in the plane or on other occasions when you want something entertaining, light and funny. If you can't stand the silly inanity of authors like Danielle Steele, Rosamund Pilcher or Mary Higgins Clark but you want something light and entertaining to read, Thirkell is your man. (Or woman, I should say.)

Carroll Graff print quality is very poor., 16 Sep 1997
I first read Ms. Thirkell's novels in the late 70s, and was immediately entranced. It is all the more disappointing, therefore, to see these terrible Carroll Graff reprints. The type is blurred and illegible, and the whole book quality is offputting to the reader. In comparison to the Moyer Bell reprints, which, while they have an awful lot of typographical errors, are well produced paperbacks, these Carroll Graff reprints are unacceptably bad. I can't believe that the editors thought they could get away with such poor quality for readers of Thirkell, who are likely, I suspect, to be rather discriminating consumers.

Before Lunch by Angela Thirkell, 16 Apr 2006
I believe this to be the best novel written by Angela Thirkell. The gentle humour and total evocation of the times are outstanding. There is the usual older woman, younger man not quite romance but tender feelings which, due to duty to others, never turn into anything more. A very different world to today. The sense of the countryside and time and place are so different to today, but it is a modern theme in that people group together to prevent building taking place on Pooker's piece. I also find the characters fascinating, in particular, the way the servants appear to run everything in their own inimitable way.

Pre-war jollity in Barsetshire, 10 Jan 2004
Angela Thirkell is no longer a popular novelist. On the surface, at least, it is not hard to see why. Her heros are gallant, upper middle class folk struggling gently, uncomplainingly and with mild humour against the vicissitudes of life while the lower classes appear almost invariably as servants, who are either feckless and immoral or stern but secretly devoted to their employers.

All foreigners are joke characters, with thick accents and passionate temperaments, as are the few career women whose jobs are not in some way linked to hearth, home or, at a pinch - farming.

Despite this, Angela Thirkell's stories have a strange appeal all their own, and Summer Half has a typical set of ingredients - a sympathetic headmaster's wife, a batch of highly articulate young boys who are cheeky without ever losing their charm, an unruly teenage daughter who is clearly in need of a masterful husband and a supporting cast of young, male teachers and suitable local girls to provide the essential love interest.

The plot is scarcely nail-biting and moves along at the gentle pace of one of the Barsetshire rivers. One teacher spends most of the book as a Communist and is thus, inevitably, a figure of gentle amusement to the rest of the characters; another falls in love with the right girl, but has to wait to the end of the book to see whether or not his love is requited.

The world Angela Thirkell conjures up is a very attractive one, which could explain the current revival of interest in her work. Even to her contemporaries, though, much of what she wrote must have seemed an idealised depiction of country life. Take the chapter headings in Summer Half, such as: "Supper with the Head," "Whitsun Picnic," "Tea at the Sports," "Croquet at the Rectory". They, too, depict a world where the most dramatic change would be in the sandwich fillings.

Given that many of Angela Thirkell's stories were written at a time of great change, in the 1930s, 40s and 50s, when the fallout of two great wars included profound social change, Summer Half seems a deliberate attempt to freeze in time a moment when - in fiction at least - the ruling classes maintained the upper hand, not mention a stiff upper lip.

Barsetshire but not as Trollope knew it, 23 Oct 2008
Wild Strawberries was published in 1934, and is very much of its era; there's a touch of the Provincial Lady in all its chaotic comings and goings and one reader wrote of Thirkell's 'Wodehousian' management of her characters. To be honest, she falls short of EM Delafield and way, way short of Wodehouse and her humour today strikes me as rather dated and heavy-handed. But this would be an engaging read during a summer afternoon with a jug of Pimms on hand (but preferably from a foxed and musty-smelling old Penguin to achieve the full nostalgic effect).
This was escapism for your grandmother's generation, no doubt borrowed from Boots' library during the years when one world war was too vivid a memory and we were hurtling too fast headlong into the next. And it's still worth reading, if only for Thirkell's description of a lunch date between an oblivious, self-satisfied young man and two jealous young women scratchily scoring points off each other ,,, just as vividly funny today as when it was written.
Thirkell was extraordinarily well-connected; grand-daughter of Burne-Jones, cousin to Baldwin and Kipling; fans of Persephone Books might be familiar with her brother Denis Mackail who wrote Greenery Street.

A light, high rising, amusing little English soufflé., 03 Jul 2004
It is good to see Angela Thirkell's light novels once more receiving attention. "High Rising" is one of her first novels, dating from 1933. There were many English novelists in the 1930s who mined the traditionally English vein of gentle parody, graceful writing, mild absurdity, and class distinction. Much handsomer than most of them, and exhibiting the influence of Jane Austen and Anthony Trollope, Angela Thirkell peopled her novels with descendants of characters found in the latter's Barsetshire novels.

If that gives an idea of the flavour and style that might be enjoyed in her books, I can add that this one chronicles the dizzy doings of Laura Morland, a novelists, who juggles the demands of four sons, her publisher, her secretary, her formidable maid Stoker, and a friend George Knox whom most think should be more than a friend to her. The custom of "coming to tea" sets them all interacting. Watch for the number of verbs Angela Thirkell can employ - from plunge, to insinuate - to describe how characters can enter a room.

Before Lunch by Angela Thirkell, 16 Apr 2006
I believe this to be the best novel written by Angela Thirkell. The gentle humour and total evocation of the times are outstanding. There is the usual older woman, younger man not quite romance but tender feelings which, due to duty to others, never turn into anything more. A very different world to today. The sense of the countryside and time and place are so different to today, but it is a modern theme in that people group together to prevent building taking place on Pooker's piece. I also find the characters fascinating, in particular, the way the servants appear to run everything in their own inimitable way.

I agree about the poor reprinting but the book itself is fun, 08 May 1998
I enjoyed the book as I enjoy all of Thirkell's books that I can find. I am happy that Moyer Bell is reprinting them regularly - I believe one is due this spring. I don't like the Carroll & Graff reprints either because the typeset is so sloppy and blurred, it is annoying.

I have always thought that Thirkell's books are great books to read on the beach, in the plane or on other occasions when you want something entertaining, light and funny. If you can't stand the silly inanity of authors like Danielle Steele, Rosamund Pilcher or Mary Higgins Clark but you want something light and entertaining to read, Thirkell is your man. (Or woman, I should say.)

Carroll Graff print quality is very poor., 16 Sep 1997
I first read Ms. Thirkell's novels in the late 70s, and was immediately entranced. It is all the more disappointing, therefore, to see these terrible Carroll Graff reprints. The type is blurred and illegible, and the whole book quality is offputting to the reader. In comparison to the Moyer Bell reprints, which, while they have an awful lot of typographical errors, are well produced paperbacks, these Carroll Graff reprints are unacceptably bad. I can't believe that the editors thought they could get away with such poor quality for readers of Thirkell, who are likely, I suspect, to be rather discriminating consumers.

Before Lunch by Angela Thirkell, 16 Apr 2006
I believe this to be the best novel written by Angela Thirkell. The gentle humour and total evocation of the times are outstanding. There is the usual older woman, younger man not quite romance but tender feelings which, due to duty to others, never turn into anything more. A very different world to today. The sense of the countryside and time and place are so different to today, but it is a modern theme in that people group together to prevent building taking place on Pooker's piece. I also find the characters fascinating, in particular, the way the servants appear to run everything in their own inimitable way.

Pre-war jollity in Barsetshire, 10 Jan 2004
Angela Thirkell is no longer a popular novelist. On the surface, at least, it is not hard to see why. Her heros are gallant, upper middle class folk struggling gently, uncomplainingly and with mild humour against the vicissitudes of life while the lower classes appear almost invariably as servants, who are either feckless and immoral or stern but secretly devoted to their employers.

All foreigners are joke characters, with thick accents and passionate temperaments, as are the few career women whose jobs are not in some way linked to hearth, home or, at a pinch - farming.

Despite this, Angela Thirkell's stories have a strange appeal all their own, and Summer Half has a typical set of ingredients - a sympathetic headmaster's wife, a batch of highly articulate young boys who are cheeky without ever losing their charm, an unruly teenage daughter who is clearly in need of a masterful husband and a supporting cast of young, male teachers and suitable local girls to provide the essential love interest.

The plot is scarcely nail-biting and moves along at the gentle pace of one of the Barsetshire rivers. One teacher spends most of the book as a Communist and is thus, inevitably, a figure of gentle amusement to the rest of the characters; another falls in love with the right girl, but has to wait to the end of the book to see whether or not his love is requited.

The world Angela Thirkell conjures up is a very attractive one, which could explain the current revival of interest in her work. Even to her contemporaries, though, much of what she wrote must have seemed an idealised depiction of country life. Take the chapter headings in Summer Half, such as: "Supper with the Head," "Whitsun Picnic," "Tea at the Sports," "Croquet at the Rectory". They, too, depict a world where the most dramatic change would be in the sandwich fillings.

Given that many of Angela Thirkell's stories were written at a time of great change, in the 1930s, 40s and 50s, when the fallout of two great wars included profound social change, Summer Half seems a deliberate attempt to freeze in time a moment when - in fiction at least - the ruling classes maintained the upper hand, not mention a stiff upper lip.

A light, high rising, amusing little English soufflé., 03 Jul 2004
It is good to see Angela Thirkell's light novels once more receiving attention. "High Rising" is one of her first novels, dating from 1933. There were many English novelists in the 1930s who mined the traditionally English vein of gentle parody, graceful writing, mild absurdity, and class distinction. Much handsomer than most of them, and exhibiting the influence of Jane Austen and Anthony Trollope, Angela Thirkell peopled her novels with descendants of characters found in the latter's Barsetshire novels.

If that gives an idea of the flavour and style that might be enjoyed in her books, I can add that this one chronicles the dizzy doings of Laura Morland, a novelists, who juggles the demands of four sons, her publisher, her secretary, her formidable maid Stoker, and a friend George Knox whom most think should be more than a friend to her. The custom of "coming to tea" sets them all interacting. Watch for the number of verbs Angela Thirkell can employ - from plunge, to insinuate - to describe how characters can enter a room.