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Channel: Angela Thirkell – Northern Reader
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A Double Affair by Angela Thirkell

This is a late novel in the Barsetshire series of novels. Sometimes that means that it is not as sharp, in a good way, as some of the wartime novels. I feel it is simply not quite as entertaining, that...

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Christmas at High Rising by Angela Thirkell

This is a book of Short stories by the writer of the Barsetshire Chronicles which mainly appeared in British magazines between 1928 and 1942. Despite the title, it is more winter than Christmas based:...

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High Rising by Angela Thirkell – a most enjoyable introduction to Barsetshire

This early Thirkell novel is notable for introducing some significant characters to the Barsetshire establishment that were going to reoccur throughout the chronicles, Laura and Tony Morland. Other...

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Growing Up by Angela Thirkell – a wartime gem!

This one of the wartime Thirkell novels that work so well. It reflects a time when the Second World War had been going on some time, written when the outcome of the fighting was still not apparent,...

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What does it mean? by Angela Thirkell – a peace time classic comfort read

This is a strange title for a book which does lack much of a narrative arc, or indeed plot. This is a later book in the Barsetshire series, being originally published in 1954, and while it includes...

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Close Quarters by Angela Thirkell – The characters are all….

A late novel in the Barsetshire series (1958), Close Quarters is a little unusual in that it features several deaths. Not that it is a gloomy read at all; there is sadness, but as always the narrative...

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The Demon in the House by Angela Thirkell – an early Barsetshire novel of...

This book, not often mentioned as being in the Barsetshire series, is a little bit of a curiosity even given the range of books tackled by Thirkell. While many of her books tend to focus on one family,...

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Private Enterprise by Angela Thrikell – Post war Barsetshire

This is an excellent example of a book of its time, (1947), when rationing, shortages and the exhaustion of war is still heavy, yet there is an underlying sense of relief. The characters and the...

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Love among the Ruins by Angela Thirkell; Barsetshire with all its characters...

This 1948 novel is a late, and relatively difficult to get hold of, entry into the Barsetshire series. Covering a reasonably large number of characters introduced in previous novels, it is perhaps not...

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The Old Bank House by Angela Thirkell – A Wallow in the Perpetual Summer of 1949

This postwar Thirkell novel, as ever featuring the inhabitants of Barsetshire, revels in its interconnectedness. Though it could be read as a standalone, mainly concerning the Grantly family, a...

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County Chronicles by Angela Thirkell – A later Barsetshire novel of love,...

  It is the late forties, and Thirkell carries on the story of Barsetshire through her usual themes: families, friends, allies and mild enemies. It is rooted in the countryside, the houses, cottages...

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Miss Bunting by Angela Thirkell – A wartime book of gentle village life with...

  An aged governess brings together several of the noted families of Barsetshire in this gentle novel of the imaginary county as one of the wartime editions of this wonderful series. As with virtually...

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The Duke’s Daughter by Angela Thirkell – Barsetshire’s Romantic Resolutions...

  Barsetshire is recovering from the War in this 1951 novel in the series which delves into the lives of the gentry and minor aristocracy of a mythical English county. For those familiar with the...

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Happy Returns by Angela Thirkell – a later Barsetshire novel full of...

  A later novel in the Barsetshire series, this 1952 novel is full of what makes Angela Thirkell’s books so readable and safe. Lots of characters who have appeared in the series before, maybe being...

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Cheerfulness Breaks In by Angela Thirkell – an early wartime novel of...

  This is a wartime book, first published in 1940, which deals with the first months of the Second World War from the depths of the English countryside.  It is the story of various groups of families...

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Cheerfulness Breaks In by Angela Thirkell – a new Paperback edition appears

In honour of the release of the new paperback edition by earlier this month from Virago Modern Classics – I am reposting my review. If it is a new book to you, this wartime book is a wonderful read...

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Growing Up by Angela Thirkell – A new paperback edition published!

This is a reposting of my review of this excellent book to mark its republishing by VMC – if you have not read any of the Barsetshire novels, this is an excellent on, one of Thirkell’s wartime books...

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Peace Breaks Out by Angela Thirkell – Peace is to be declared, but is...

Over the last couple of days I have been reposting my reviews of some of Angela Thirkell’s wartime novels that have just been republished in paperback by Virago Modern Classics. The covers are lovely,...

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Enter Sir Robert by Angela Thirkell – a later novel of Barsetshire people,...

Enter Sir Robert by Angela Thirkell Those who know and like the Barsetshire novels produced by Angela Thirkell in the middle decade of the last century will know of the semi mystical character of Sir...

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