The second of Angela Thirkell’s Barset series of novels is a wonderfully comforting bit of 1930’s froth. That’s not meant to denigrate it at all – as it was absolutely perfect reading for my over tired little brain as the week drew to a close. Light, bright, funny (ok so there is one rather unfortunate piece of racist language – typical of its time, but still unpalatable) and deliciously cosy – it has forced (yes actually forced) me to pre-order the next two Thirkells that Virago are re-issuing next month.
A host of slightly eccentric rather adorable characters a large house in the country, a touching little romance, all in a 1930’s setting – well honestly what’s not to like?
“But it is not that basket, Gudgeon, but the other basket which has my painting things and a dead thrush in it. Martin, did I tell you I found a dead thrush on my window-sill this morning, and I don’t know what to do with it?’
‘Oh the poor darling,’ said Agnes
‘Can I have it for a funeral?’ asked James, raising his head from chocolate pudding.
‘Yes darling, of course. Well then, Gudgeon, I want the dead thrush and a letter with a coronet on the back of it. And who are your tenants, Mr Banister? said her ladyship, who however far she divagated always returned to her subject in the long run.”
Lady Emily is the delightfully vague matriarch of Rushwater House; here she and her husband Henry Leslie quietly mourn their eldest son killed in the Great War, surrounded by the rest of their large family. Agnes Graham, the Leslie’s daughter, her young children and the nannie help fill the house while Agnes’s husband Robert is away. Also present when not in London are their sons John – a widower of seven years, and David the youngest of the Leslie family, a handsome, sometimes selfish playboy hoping to get a job with the BBC. Martin, the sixteen year old son of the eldest Leslie son who was killed in the war, also stays at Rushwater when not at school. Martin’s mother having wanted him to study French arranged for him to spend his summer in France. Horrified at the thought Martin has come up with a better plan. The local vicar has rented his house to some French holiday makers while he himself is away, and with his help, Martin arranges to study with their eldest son so that Martin can stay at Rushwater for the summer. Agnes is a younger, stunningly beautiful version of her mother; she adores her children, and is endlessly fascinated by them, what she lacks in intelligence she more than makes up for in sweetness. Agnes arranges for her niece by marriage Mary Preston to come and stay for the summer, Mary twenty three, pretty and romantic with a beautiful singing voice, seems to be the answer to Lady Emily and Agnes’s prayers, who immediately see that Mary is perfect for John. However Mary falls head over heels for the handsome David – who promises her wild strawberries.
With young Martin’s seventeenth birthday – and a dance party looming – the Boulle family are installed at the vicarage. Pierre the eldest son of the family is to be Martin’s tutor, while his mother never lets an opportunity pass, to tell anyone who will listen, how everything is superior in France. Martin is a first disgusted by the family – the garrulous mother, her greedy fat daughter and the spotty younger son Jean-Claude who is about his own age. However, soon he and Jean-Claude are fast friends and declaring themselves to be French Royalists committed to restoring the French monarchy. Pierre meanwhile takes one look at Agnes Graham and is instantly smitten. At the birthday dance held on Martin’s seventeenth birthday the fortunes of Mary, David and John are set to be decided.
This gloriously little novel is a quick joyful read, and I can’t wait to get my hands on more Thirkell novels. I don’t pretend that these novels are deep or important pieces of classic literature – but they are hilariously adorable. Alongside the humour, many laugh out loud moments – there are poignant reminders of a generation who mourned those lost in the Great War. When, on the morning of Martin’s seventeenth birthday, Lady Emily and her husband quietly and sadly remember their eldest son it is really very touching, as is John’s grief for his dead wife.
It souinds *lovely* Ali! Despite having several Thirkells on my shelves, I still haven’t got started on them – but now I really must!
oh yes you must : )
I have read the majority of her books and this one is my favorite. It also happens to be the only one that I own, having found a used copy a number of years ago before I had ready any of her books. I loved the book right from the beginning scene in the church.
Oh the opening church scene is just wonderful, had me hooked right away with its humour.
Doesn’t sound like a book I would enjoy, but I do know that feeling of needing something that is simply not going to tax whatever I have left in the way of little grey cells. It’s more likely to be a piece of crime fiction for me, or if I’m in a really bad way, then fantasy. Anything I don’t have to think about too much.
Vintage crime/mystery is another comfort read for me – and something that I have been reading today.
I was sold on the cover; how shallow I am!
The covers are very pretty 🙂
Oh dear – I fear that you’ve done to me with these what I’ve done to you with “Dance to the Music of Time”. I suppose that’s fair enough. Is Virago re-issuing them all in order, then??
Ha ha! pay back 🙂
I don’t know about how they are being re-issued – but they all seem to stand alone anyway – I’m not even sure if any of the characters re-appear in any of the books. The first two are set in different villages with different people entirely.
You had me at “wonderfully comforting 1930s froth.” !!! I’ve picked up a few of the Moyer Bell editions of the Thirkells at the library donation shelf — someone with the exact same taste as me must be clearing out, so I always snag them when I can. I do want to them sometime but the thought of a 29 book series is so daunting, I have so many unread books already!
I know, but as (I think) they all stand alone, you don’t have to read them all.
I know…easily said 🙂