I needed another trip with Angela Thirkell down Barsetshire way and I thought this book would hit the spot, and it did. First published in 1940, the Second World War is just beginning to change everybody’s lives with lots of the young men joining the various armed forces and the ones not in uniform feeling guilty for having reserved occupations which are keeping them safe from harm for the moment.
Rose Birkett, the beautiful but dim daughter of the headmaster of Southbridge School, is swanning down the church aisle at last, after several failed engagements which had driven her parents mad with worry and has caused mayhem within the school as she worked her way through the junior masters. At last they are going to get rid of her. Rose has met her match in the Royal Navy, in the shape of Lieutenant Fairweather, who seems to be able to take command of Rose and navigates her through her foul and dispiriting experiences unperturbed.
As usual there are quite a few romantic matches before the end of the book, some of them amazingly hasty but such was life at that time as young folks ‘carpe diemed’ like crazy in case there was no tomorrow for them.
The villages are inundated with cockney children who have been evacuated there along with their colonies of head lice!
Even in 1940 the East European refugees were obviously an annoyance to the locals, which makes it seem quite up to date, given the recent changes in Britain’s demographics and the large amounts of Poles/Lithuanians and the like which now make up part of our population.
As it says on the cover – England is on the brink of war, but the people of rural Barsetshire are not down-hearted.
There’s plenty of humour as well as romance. The only complaint I have is that the book does end very abruptly. In fact the last chapter is called – story without an end. It left me feeling that I wanted to go on and read the next Thirkell book immediately but, I don’t have that one – typical, I have about five of her later books. I’m going to have to buy Northbridge Rectory.
There’s no place so cozy and safe as Barsetshire with Angela Thirkell! I didn’t manage to buy back the Thirkell books I took to The Book Trader, but I did find one there that I didn’t have. I’ve decided they are books I want to keep. I can easily see me re-reading them.
Joan,
I’m reading them all out of order, just as I manage to get them. I think I’ll end up re-reading them all from the beginning of the series when I eventually track them all down. I hope you manage to find more of them. BTW, I e-mailed you today, just in case it went awol again.
Always annoying when the library system can’t fill in the blanks of a series…ah, well – there are worse things than buying a book đŸ˜‰
Debbie,
Yes I keep telling myself that there are far worse vices to have. I meant to get in contact with you again to say that if you haven’t sent off a vintage postcard yet – I would be just as happy with a modern one of your area, you might want to keep your old one yourself.
I think is my favorite of the war-time books. I agree about the ending, and I’m sure it had an even greater impact in 1940, when so many people had been in Lydia’s situation.
Lisa,
I really think her books must have helped such a lot when people were struggling with rationing, red tape and just the general misery of the war and aftermath. She often goes off on a bit of a rant but I can almost hear the original readers giving a cheer when she’s having a moan about the government.
I still need to read an Angela Thirkell novel! I read her memoir and enjoyed it so I think I will like her fiction. Do you have to start with the first book in the series or can you start with any of them?
Anbolyn,
I’m still trying to get a couple of the earliest ones in the series! It doesn’t matter where you start but I think that the 1939 ones onwards are the most enjoyable, but the 1950s books are good too as she’s writing about the post war austerity. It’s similar to how things are now really but she manages to get a lot of humour into her books. You should be able to get an ILL but I see that there are some cheap ones going on Amazon/Abebooks and the like – some v. expensive ones too.