Marling Hall: A Baretshire Novel

Angela Thirkell takes us back to the wonderful world of Barsetshire once again, and reminds us that the foibles of human nature never change. She weaves strands of love, humour, compassion and the natural irritation that occurs when an entire country has been under the stress of war for so many years. Her charactors are sharply drawn (although after many books there are certainly patterns or types that emerge), her love stories are never trite and her understanding of human nature is impeccable. I've enjoyed all of her earlier and middle books, and think this is certainly one of her best. I've reread it three or four times, and while it may not be a classic on the level of Trollope, it has the same dry wit and observation. It begins with Lettice Watson sleeping in her old childhood bed, awakening with the sense that she never had left. Now that she's a mother with two small children of her own she has taken over the stable quarters and with Nurse begins a new life as a war widow. The tragedies, big or small are handled so matter of factly that they always help me keep my own disappointments in perspective. Lettice's comfort in awakening in a familiar place is a model for the feeling I get reading this book; I know that everything will work out in the end. Elizabeth Drew in the Atlantic said it best "Angela Thirkell's gentle satires of her own class and time speak to all of us-to the best, the bravest, the kindest part of us."

not my usual type of reading material, but i have an interest in the WWII time period, so it was interesting to me from that point of view. i feel like i learned a lot about country life in england during that time, but i found the book itself rather tedious to read. so little happens in this novel, that when a ripple finally DOES wend its evil way across the domestic tranquility, it feels like a breath of fresh air -- albeit a maddening one! the author portrays the type of society that a woman like dr. laura would immediately be ostracized from -- for having the gall to speak up & tell it like it is. i guess i am just too american? i found myself wanting to SCREAM at some of the characters -- no doubt the author would be pleased, but i found it extremely exhausting; & , as a writer, i resented the obvious techniques the author used to manipulate me, the reader, into liking who she wanted me to like & into disliking who she wanted me to dislike -- but that's probably just me. as i said before, Marling Hall does NOT represent my usual taste in books. i think i was also expecting something a little more jane austiny (whose books i enjoy), which it definitely is NOT. so i don't want to discourage anyone who might enjoy a light romance, which this definitely IS. also, the copy i have is published by carroll & graf, but it doesn't have the problems mentioned by the other 2 reviewers -- my copy is clean & crisp.

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.)