I was really chuffed to be able to get three Thirkell books at the market in Cambridge because they’re as rare as hen’s teeth here. Growing Up was first published in 1943 and this one is a first edition, though I’m really not interested in things like that, and it’s obviously not deemed to be valuable because it cost me all of £2. The book was reprinted in 1990 I think.

Angela Thirkell used Anthony Trollope’s setting of Barsetshire for her books and also a lot of the characters are supposedly descendants of Trollope characters. Thirkell nicks ideas quite shamefully really but her books are always entertaining and amusing although I think that in common with many authors of that era she throws a lot of characters at you and it can be a wee bit confusing at times until you get them all sorted out in your mind.

It’s set mainly in the villages of Winter Overcotes and Winter Underclose – and I can assure you that I saw places with far stranger names in my recent sojourn to the south of England – and of course it’s wartime with everybody worried about their loved ones who are off who knows where fighting for King and Country. All of the women seem to be knitting in what spare time they have, which isn’t much as they’re doing their bit and even the married women are working at the hospital, otherwise they would feel like traitors.

War doesn’t stop romance though and yet more inhabitants of Barsetshire discover that they know each other’s ‘people’ and end up pairing off. There’s fun and daftness on the way as ever and these books must have helped people through it all.

I’ve been reading the books out of order, just as I get them really but one day I intend to re-read them as they were written, if I ever manage to get them all. You can see a list of her publications here, if you’re interested.