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Barsetshire #16
Private Enterprise
Amid food shortages and grumbling, Barsetshire is unsettled by the arrival of a pretty war widow in this “delicately humorous [and] entertaining” novel (The New York Times).World War II may be over, but its effects linger in the English countryside as the local ladies trade ration coupons for a paltry selection of provisions. It’s feeling like a bleak summer—but it won’t be a boring one, now that flirtatious young widow Peggy Arbuthnot and her sister-in-law, Effie, are on the scene. Peggy has quite a few admirers—including Noel Merton, which is rather unfortunate for his wife. Suspense reigns over who might win Peggy’s hand—and whether the Merton marriage will survive . . . “Where Trollope would have been content to arouse a chuckle, [Thirkell] is constantly provoking us to hilarious laughter. . . . To read her is to get the feeling of knowing Barsetshire folk as well as if one had been born and bred in the county.” —Kirkus Reviews
405 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 23, 2024
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About the author
Angela Thirkell
61 books257 followers Angela Margaret Mackail was born on January 30, 1890 at 27 Young Street, Kensington Square, London. Her grandfather was Sir Edward Burne-Jones the pre-Raphaelite painter and partner in the design firm of Morris and Company for whom he designed many stained glass windows - seven of which are in St Margaret's Church in Rottingdean, West Sussex. Her grandmother was Georgiana Macdonald, one of a precocious family which included among others, Stanley Baldwin, the Prime Minister, and Rudyard Kipling. Angela's brother, Denis Mackail, was also a prolific and successful novelist. Angela's mother, Margaret Burne-Jones, married John Mackail - an administrator at the Ministry of Education and Professor of Poetry at Oxford University.
Angela married James Campbell McInnes in 1911. James was a professional Baritone and performed at concert halls throughout the UK. In 1912 their first son Graham was born and in 1914 a second son, Colin. A daughter was born in 1917 at the same time her marriage was breaking up. In November 1917 a divorce was granted and Angela and the children went to live with her parents in Pembroke Gardens in London. The child, Mary, died the next year.
Angela then met and married George Lancelot Thirkell in 1918 and in 1920 they traveled on a troop ship to George's hometown in Australia. Their adventures on the "Friedricksruh" are recounted in her Trooper to the Southern Cross published in 1934. In 1921, in Melbourne Australia, her youngest son Lancelot George was born. Angela left Australia in 1929 with 8 year old Lance and never returned. Although living with her parents in London she badly needed to earn a living so she set forth on the difficult road of the professional writer. Her first book, Three Houses, a memoir of her happy childhood was published in 1931 and was an immediate success. The first of her novels set in Trollope's mythical county of Barsetshire was Demon in the House, followed by 28 others, one each year.
Angela also wrote a book of children's stories entitled The Grateful Sparrow using Ludwig Richter's illustrations; a biography of Harriette Wilson, The Fortunes of Harriette; an historical novel, Coronation Summer, an account of the events in London during Queen Victoria's Coronation in 1838; and three semi-autobiographical novels, Ankle Deep and Oh, These Men, These Men and Trooper to the Southern Cross. When Angela died on the 29th of January 1961 she left unfinished the last of her books, Three Score and Ten which was completed by her friend, Caroline LeJeune. Angela is buried in Rottingdean alongside her daughter Mary and her Burne-Jones grandparents.
Angela married James Campbell McInnes in 1911. James was a professional Baritone and performed at concert halls throughout the UK. In 1912 their first son Graham was born and in 1914 a second son, Colin. A daughter was born in 1917 at the same time her marriage was breaking up. In November 1917 a divorce was granted and Angela and the children went to live with her parents in Pembroke Gardens in London. The child, Mary, died the next year.
Angela then met and married George Lancelot Thirkell in 1918 and in 1920 they traveled on a troop ship to George's hometown in Australia. Their adventures on the "Friedricksruh" are recounted in her Trooper to the Southern Cross published in 1934. In 1921, in Melbourne Australia, her youngest son Lancelot George was born. Angela left Australia in 1929 with 8 year old Lance and never returned. Although living with her parents in London she badly needed to earn a living so she set forth on the difficult road of the professional writer. Her first book, Three Houses, a memoir of her happy childhood was published in 1931 and was an immediate success. The first of her novels set in Trollope's mythical county of Barsetshire was Demon in the House, followed by 28 others, one each year.
Angela also wrote a book of children's stories entitled The Grateful Sparrow using Ludwig Richter's illustrations; a biography of Harriette Wilson, The Fortunes of Harriette; an historical novel, Coronation Summer, an account of the events in London during Queen Victoria's Coronation in 1838; and three semi-autobiographical novels, Ankle Deep and Oh, These Men, These Men and Trooper to the Southern Cross. When Angela died on the 29th of January 1961 she left unfinished the last of her books, Three Score and Ten which was completed by her friend, Caroline LeJeune. Angela is buried in Rottingdean alongside her daughter Mary and her Burne-Jones grandparents.
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March 9, 2018
Peace has broken out and everyone in Barsetshire is trying to adjust to the new way of life, but it is quite difficult when the government keeps changing the rules, rationing food and many people are unemployed. For Lydia Merton, life goes on. She is busy taking care of the farm and her family while Noel is a rising barrister in London. During the long-vacation, the London lawyers return home to Barsetshire and Lydia is enjoying the company of her husband and brother Colin. When Colin announces his friend, Mrs. Arbuthnot, a lovely young widow, is looking for a place to live in Barsetshire, Lydia is delighted her brother has fallen in love at last. M Colin in love is not all Lydia had hoped for but she is willing to give Mrs. Arbuthnot a chance for her brother's sake. As the dreary summer turns into dull fall, rs. Arbuthnot arrives with her sister-in-law Miss Arbuthnot and stirs things up in sleepy Barsetshire, along with Jessica Dean, the famous London actress and youngest daughter of the Dean family.
This is one of the best entries in the series so far. I wasn't sure how I felt about continuing post-war but I missed the characters and wanted to know how they were doing. I am so happy I read this book. Not only is is about Lydia, my favorite character, it is witty, laugh out loud funny in parts and interesting (for the most part). Thirkell refrains from most of the snobby, Jingoistic commentary that marked the war years novels. She focuses her pen on satirizing the government and the folly of rationing. I learned a lot about rationing after WWII from reading this novel and was entertained while learning. I did feel the novel got bogged down with too much commentary on the church and the school. I didn't really understand the church bits or why there's a Vicar and a Rector and the difference. It was so hard to keep track of which vicar is which. While I was sad the Birketts are retiring, the school scenes went on too long and were boring and confusing.
The characters fairly leap off the page once again. We'll start with the Keith-Mertons. Lydia has grown up a lot but she still has the same loving heart as always and is always willing to do what needs to be done. Her indefatigable energy is worn a bit thin now dealing with a young family and a farm. She lets Nurse rule the roost with an iron fist while she takes care of household duties and farm duties not done by Wickham. Lydia and Noel are so cute together in the beginning of the book. I love how he understands her train of thought and how much she trusts him to be there for her. Noel behaves very badly later in the book. He turns into a major jerk starting when Lydia needs him the most. If I were dealing with all the things Lydia had to deal with AND illness in the house, I would demand my husband come home and do his share of the work instead of gallivanting around to dinner parties and luncheons with beautiful women. I know ... different time, different standards but Lydia is very modern so I felt bad for her. Colin is annoying to say the least. He thinks he's in love and it makes him brooding. I don't like Colin brooding. Colin happy is a nice guy but brooding Colin is just annoying, even Lydia seems to think so. I wasn't expecting his story to take the direction it did.
The Arbuthnot ladies arrive from the other end of the country via India. They're devoted sisters-in-law but very different. Peggy, the young widow, is incredibly beautiful, flirtatious and kind. She is in the mold of Mrs. Brandon. I much preferred her no-nonsense sister-in-law Effie. While I felt sorry that Peggy's husband was kind of a louse, he was Effie's brother and she's mourning him. He wasn't the world's best brother and I wouldn't waste more than a minute missing him if I were here, but he was her whole world until a year ago. The change is harder on Effie. She takes comfort in birds and finding like-minded friends. I was kept guessing about Peggy's love story and how it would end. It becomes obvious to the reader only just before the conclusion. Effie's story surprised me too. The the ladies move into Editha cottage, next to the two spinsters: Miss Bent and Miss Hampton (and their dog of the ever changing name). I LOVE LOVE LOVE these two ladies! Rarely is a same sex couple portrayed in novels of this period and so matter-of-fact. Miss Hampton makes me laugh out loud, especially the title of her newest book! Don't read it while drinking anything or you will spit it out all over the book/screen.
Next we have the Brandons. Mrs. Brandon is a little older but none the wiser. She is still charming, flirty and gay yet a bit careworn by the ravages of wartime economy. While she likes having the nursery school about, she isn't sad to see them leave and longs for some grandbabies to love. (Nurse does too! She may LEAVE if she doesn't have someone young to care for). Francis Brandon seems much like his mother on the surface and the darker thoughts that are hinted at never fully materialize. I'm not super crazy about him. He's too close to his mother and too much like her for me to find completely charming. I loved the belowstairs rivalry in the Brandon household and the reminiscing about Aunt Sissie's Brandon Abbey-ghastly place! The Brandon household adds a lot of the humor to the story.
The Deans from August Folly appear again for the first time. The baby, Jessica, is now on the London stage. I wasn't sure what to make of her at first but at the end I really liked her. She's charming, fun and smart. I liked her sister Susan, a librarian for the Red Cross, as well. Susan is practical, intelligent, perceptive and knows how to handle certain men in her life. After Lydia, she is my favorite returning character in this book.
We also have a subplot about the Dean of the school, Mr. Birkett, retiring and his mixed feelings. His farewell day was so sad. I almost felt myself sniffling a little but the prose was too long-winded and boring for that. The Birketts are great people, despite their idiotic daughter, who though she doesn't appear on page, makes her presence known!
Finally, there are some new secondary characters. There's Mr. Wickham, who works the farm for the Mertons. He's crazy obsessed with birds in a nearly unhealthy sort of way and he drinks too much but he is a kind and generous friend. There's an elderly vicar and his YOUNGER aunt moving out and on. They are too funny, especially the aunt, who is something of a prognosticator. I love that the aunt is younger than her nephew (confusing) and the name of the place where they are going is amusing. I don't know what a stiffnecked clergyman is but it sounds funny! There's also the new vicar, Colonel Crofts. He has come to the clergy late in life but is sincere. He is kind, generous and has a big heart. I couldn't help but really like him.
The story catches us up on the happenings of the other Barsetshire families. Nearly everyone is mentioned at least once. It was fun to catch up with old friends, but nostalgic because it's hard to believe the babies we first met at the beginning of the series are grown and the teens are married with children! I can't wait to see what happens next.
This is one of the best entries in the series so far. I wasn't sure how I felt about continuing post-war but I missed the characters and wanted to know how they were doing. I am so happy I read this book. Not only is is about Lydia, my favorite character, it is witty, laugh out loud funny in parts and interesting (for the most part). Thirkell refrains from most of the snobby, Jingoistic commentary that marked the war years novels. She focuses her pen on satirizing the government and the folly of rationing. I learned a lot about rationing after WWII from reading this novel and was entertained while learning. I did feel the novel got bogged down with too much commentary on the church and the school. I didn't really understand the church bits or why there's a Vicar and a Rector and the difference. It was so hard to keep track of which vicar is which. While I was sad the Birketts are retiring, the school scenes went on too long and were boring and confusing.
The characters fairly leap off the page once again. We'll start with the Keith-Mertons. Lydia has grown up a lot but she still has the same loving heart as always and is always willing to do what needs to be done. Her indefatigable energy is worn a bit thin now dealing with a young family and a farm. She lets Nurse rule the roost with an iron fist while she takes care of household duties and farm duties not done by Wickham. Lydia and Noel are so cute together in the beginning of the book. I love how he understands her train of thought and how much she trusts him to be there for her. Noel behaves very badly later in the book. He turns into a major jerk starting when Lydia needs him the most. If I were dealing with all the things Lydia had to deal with AND illness in the house, I would demand my husband come home and do his share of the work instead of gallivanting around to dinner parties and luncheons with beautiful women. I know ... different time, different standards but Lydia is very modern so I felt bad for her. Colin is annoying to say the least. He thinks he's in love and it makes him brooding. I don't like Colin brooding. Colin happy is a nice guy but brooding Colin is just annoying, even Lydia seems to think so. I wasn't expecting his story to take the direction it did.
The Arbuthnot ladies arrive from the other end of the country via India. They're devoted sisters-in-law but very different. Peggy, the young widow, is incredibly beautiful, flirtatious and kind. She is in the mold of Mrs. Brandon. I much preferred her no-nonsense sister-in-law Effie. While I felt sorry that Peggy's husband was kind of a louse, he was Effie's brother and she's mourning him. He wasn't the world's best brother and I wouldn't waste more than a minute missing him if I were here, but he was her whole world until a year ago. The change is harder on Effie. She takes comfort in birds and finding like-minded friends. I was kept guessing about Peggy's love story and how it would end. It becomes obvious to the reader only just before the conclusion. Effie's story surprised me too. The the ladies move into Editha cottage, next to the two spinsters: Miss Bent and Miss Hampton (and their dog of the ever changing name). I LOVE LOVE LOVE these two ladies! Rarely is a same sex couple portrayed in novels of this period and so matter-of-fact. Miss Hampton makes me laugh out loud, especially the title of her newest book! Don't read it while drinking anything or you will spit it out all over the book/screen.
Next we have the Brandons. Mrs. Brandon is a little older but none the wiser. She is still charming, flirty and gay yet a bit careworn by the ravages of wartime economy. While she likes having the nursery school about, she isn't sad to see them leave and longs for some grandbabies to love. (Nurse does too! She may LEAVE if she doesn't have someone young to care for). Francis Brandon seems much like his mother on the surface and the darker thoughts that are hinted at never fully materialize. I'm not super crazy about him. He's too close to his mother and too much like her for me to find completely charming. I loved the belowstairs rivalry in the Brandon household and the reminiscing about Aunt Sissie's Brandon Abbey-ghastly place! The Brandon household adds a lot of the humor to the story.
The Deans from August Folly appear again for the first time. The baby, Jessica, is now on the London stage. I wasn't sure what to make of her at first but at the end I really liked her. She's charming, fun and smart. I liked her sister Susan, a librarian for the Red Cross, as well. Susan is practical, intelligent, perceptive and knows how to handle certain men in her life. After Lydia, she is my favorite returning character in this book.
We also have a subplot about the Dean of the school, Mr. Birkett, retiring and his mixed feelings. His farewell day was so sad. I almost felt myself sniffling a little but the prose was too long-winded and boring for that. The Birketts are great people, despite their idiotic daughter, who though she doesn't appear on page, makes her presence known!
Finally, there are some new secondary characters. There's Mr. Wickham, who works the farm for the Mertons. He's crazy obsessed with birds in a nearly unhealthy sort of way and he drinks too much but he is a kind and generous friend. There's an elderly vicar and his YOUNGER aunt moving out and on. They are too funny, especially the aunt, who is something of a prognosticator. I love that the aunt is younger than her nephew (confusing) and the name of the place where they are going is amusing. I don't know what a stiffnecked clergyman is but it sounds funny! There's also the new vicar, Colonel Crofts. He has come to the clergy late in life but is sincere. He is kind, generous and has a big heart. I couldn't help but really like him.
The story catches us up on the happenings of the other Barsetshire families. Nearly everyone is mentioned at least once. It was fun to catch up with old friends, but nostalgic because it's hard to believe the babies we first met at the beginning of the series are grown and the teens are married with children! I can't wait to see what happens next.
March 6, 2018
I think, that much of the charm of Thirkell's later books is in meeting again characters known from previous novels. I am not sure how much I would have liked some of them if I haven't known previous'.
I was thrilled meeting again Lydia, Noel, Colin, Mrs. Brandon, Francis. I liked also to see again Birketts, Deans, Robin, Mrs. Morland and many other. Parts about them, their discussions and wit were simply wonderful. I felt so cozy and at home reading e.g. house-war between Nurse, Rose and Ethel. And I adore reading how children grew up (it was hard to believe that little Jessica became a famous actress).
What I found especially precious in this novels was:
--> Colin being in love for the first time, his sulking was marvelous; I can't tell I liked him in this state but the way Mrs. Thirkell described it was funny
--> Lydia and Noel marriage life - I love them both and their love and personalities are one of the best of the whole series.
I found very interesting also the atmosphere of living in the shadow of the war (rationing etc.), attempts to accept the new reality.
The considerations about where someone belongs to were quite absorbing.
And I was totally surprised when Mrs. Thirkell through her character's mouth predicted that everything will be those horrible plastics someday.
Now, I must say a few critical words.
All these great aspects of the book were interlaced with parts that almost bored me. All those ceremonies in connection with Mr. Birkett's retirement... Two or three too many conversations about not enough food or about birds. It was the first time (with Thirkell's novels) that I skipped some paragraphs. It made the book a bit too long. It is why I am giving four stars.
The stories about Mertons, Colin, Francis, the Arbuthnot sisters, with a touch of Jessica, Susan, Mrs. Brandon could have created another five stars novel, but... (see above).
PS I was shocked when I read that Tony Morland was engaged. I haven't read the previous part, Peace Breaks Out, so I assume he got engaged there. I am sad that I couldn't read about it by myself :-( I was waiting for Tony's love story so long.
PS2 I will remember "The Ministry of General Interference" for a very long time ;-)
PS3 It is the first time that I don't like the romance couple. I would like someone different for Francis.
I was thrilled meeting again Lydia, Noel, Colin, Mrs. Brandon, Francis. I liked also to see again Birketts, Deans, Robin, Mrs. Morland and many other. Parts about them, their discussions and wit were simply wonderful. I felt so cozy and at home reading e.g. house-war between Nurse, Rose and Ethel. And I adore reading how children grew up (it was hard to believe that little Jessica became a famous actress).
What I found especially precious in this novels was:
--> Colin being in love for the first time, his sulking was marvelous; I can't tell I liked him in this state but the way Mrs. Thirkell described it was funny
--> Lydia and Noel marriage life - I love them both and their love and personalities are one of the best of the whole series.
I found very interesting also the atmosphere of living in the shadow of the war (rationing etc.), attempts to accept the new reality.
The considerations about where someone belongs to were quite absorbing.
And I was totally surprised when Mrs. Thirkell through her character's mouth predicted that everything will be those horrible plastics someday.
Now, I must say a few critical words.
All these great aspects of the book were interlaced with parts that almost bored me. All those ceremonies in connection with Mr. Birkett's retirement... Two or three too many conversations about not enough food or about birds. It was the first time (with Thirkell's novels) that I skipped some paragraphs. It made the book a bit too long. It is why I am giving four stars.
The stories about Mertons, Colin, Francis, the Arbuthnot sisters, with a touch of Jessica, Susan, Mrs. Brandon could have created another five stars novel, but... (see above).
PS I was shocked when I read that Tony Morland was engaged. I haven't read the previous part, Peace Breaks Out, so I assume he got engaged there. I am sad that I couldn't read about it by myself :-( I was waiting for Tony's love story so long.
PS2 I will remember "The Ministry of General Interference" for a very long time ;-)
PS3 It is the first time that I don't like the romance couple. I would like someone different for Francis.
May 21, 2016
3.5 stars - finally finished! I don't know why this took me so long, except that I would go for a couple days without picking it up; I've been reading Thirkell's Barsetshire books in order over the years, and I have to say I've noticed they are still delightful comfort food for my brain, but don't draw me in like the earlier books in the series.
I love revisiting characters that feel like old friends, but this time around I could've cheerfully strangled Noel Merton, Colin Keith and, to a lesser extent, Francis Brandon! Noel has always seemed delightfully sophisticated and charming, the dashing older man who swept Lydia off her feet several books ago; at the end of this story he felt like
Anyway, I need to hurry and finish reading the Barsetshire books so I can revisit the more enjoyable early books. I really enjoyed the new characters: the Arbuthnot sisters, Colonel Crofts and Mr. Wickham, and I loved getting to know Susan and Jessica Dean better - I definitely need to revisit August Folly, the book that introduced the large and attractive Dean family. I still love my visits to Barsetshire, but am seeing the difficulties of managing such a huge and ever-increasing cast of characters! Recommended for fans, but not the place to start in this series.
I love revisiting characters that feel like old friends, but this time around I could've cheerfully strangled Noel Merton, Colin Keith and, to a lesser extent, Francis Brandon! Noel has always seemed delightfully sophisticated and charming, the dashing older man who swept Lydia off her feet several books ago; at the end of this story he felt like
Anyway, I need to hurry and finish reading the Barsetshire books so I can revisit the more enjoyable early books. I really enjoyed the new characters: the Arbuthnot sisters, Colonel Crofts and Mr. Wickham, and I loved getting to know Susan and Jessica Dean better - I definitely need to revisit August Folly, the book that introduced the large and attractive Dean family. I still love my visits to Barsetshire, but am seeing the difficulties of managing such a huge and ever-increasing cast of characters! Recommended for fans, but not the place to start in this series.
July 10, 2011
LOVE Angela Thirkell, as always. This was the first one I've read that takes place after the war. And though she is definitely much more cynical (bitter!), she never fails to be laugh-out-loud funny because of her wonderful descriptions of the foibles of every day life and the people in it.
My new favorite lines from a book:
"The mother of the puppies wore and bland and fatuous expression of pride in her fat, wobble-legged off-spring while the elder dogs, including the puppies' father, who had not the faintest idea that they were his own children, were frankly bored, and all the younger dogs, who had never seen puppies before and did not remember how lately they had been puppies themselves, were looking with horror, disgust, and in some cases terror on what they took to be a revolting exhibition of dog dwarfs."
My new favorite lines from a book:
"The mother of the puppies wore and bland and fatuous expression of pride in her fat, wobble-legged off-spring while the elder dogs, including the puppies' father, who had not the faintest idea that they were his own children, were frankly bored, and all the younger dogs, who had never seen puppies before and did not remember how lately they had been puppies themselves, were looking with horror, disgust, and in some cases terror on what they took to be a revolting exhibition of dog dwarfs."
September 17, 2013
Kind of long. A lot in this one about post-war Britain and the actually worsening conditions, especially the rationing.
In this one, a war widow and her sister-in-law come to live in Barchester. The widow, Peggy, is still in her twenties and very attractive. At least two of the local men fall in love with her, one of them becoming very much a nuisance to his family because he's never been in love before and is behaving with all the reasonableness of a 3-year-old.
Anyway, eminently suitable engagements will happen, and there will be lots of talking about food (or the lack thereof).
Mostly an okay book, but not as many funny or memorable bits.
In this one, a war widow and her sister-in-law come to live in Barchester. The widow, Peggy, is still in her twenties and very attractive. At least two of the local men fall in love with her, one of them becoming very much a nuisance to his family because he's never been in love before and is behaving with all the reasonableness of a 3-year-old.
Anyway, eminently suitable engagements will happen, and there will be lots of talking about food (or the lack thereof).
Mostly an okay book, but not as many funny or memorable bits.
November 24, 2010
Colin Keith falls in love with, Peggy Arbuthnot, a pretty widow; so do other men, including unfortunately Noel Merton, who is married to Colin's sister. Delightful, like all Angela Thirkells, and when she starts to dither, ramble and repeat herself (as she sometimes does), it's OK. You can just skim for a few pages until she settles down once again to being amusing.
November 16, 2009
I am biased in favour of any book with so much Lydia.
June 22, 2021
This was perilously close to a hate-read for me -- not quite, because I do so love Lydia and Noel, and there is a large comfort for me to be in the company of the characters I love, even if I think Thirkell's ideology is absolutely dreadful.
And what ideology is it? Well, the first chapter is one long lament about everything that is horrible now that WW2 is over, including the weather (it has never been sunny since Dunkirk), houses (because there is some horrible idea afoot that everyone should be housed and so there are NOT ENOUGH HOUSES for the rich, they keep being taken by people from bombed-out cities who clearly don't deserve them), being a lady or gentleman (because nobody wants to work 12 hours a day for you as your servant, or give you their share of the food, or otherwise perform their designated role in making your life pleasant), social life (because there aren't enough of the 'right people' around to have parties), the Government (for trying to destroy 'traditional family life' by educating the violent lower classes who should be left to beat their children freely -- and education spoils lower class children because then they don't want to work as servants and expect time off and other dreadful things), the general decline of child labour (since now you can't get boys to work in the garden, they're all being educated and going to movies) and children in general, since all children are now thieves and it would be a better world if children were murdered when they misbehaved.
SOME of this is, of course, satire -- I don't think the child-killing bits (which are repeated several times!) are meant to be taken seriously, they are exaggeration to relieve everyone's upset feelings. But a lot of this is serious, the world that these incredibly privileged wealthy people grew up in has been destroyed, and they are constantly irate and despairing about it. And it is understandable as emotions, but as the book goes on it comes through more and more strongly that none of Thirkell's characters think anyone is human other than their 'own sort' -- other people are either obstacles (taking up houses) or spectacles (beating their children), but they only exist in reference to the upper middle classes, who are the real people in the world.
It's not like I didn't know this before -- I have read almost all the Thirkell there is, and I've been commenting as I go along with these reviews that sooner or later the ideology may overcome me. But I'm frustrated by it anyway, since along with being just generally gross, I feel like it undermines the character development that has been happening over the course of the WW2 novels. Lydia (and many other characters) were shown doing a lot of very hard & real work during the war, and having very natural emotions about the difficulties and challenges and sacrifices and their hopes for a better future. And of course the 'better future' has a huge element of 'things being like they used to be' -- here I am in June 2021 wishing the world would go back to its previous normal! I can entirely sympathise! But all that being said, why is it that Lydia, having exhausted herself in all kinds of labour, can't understand that NOBODY really wants to do that kind of work all the time, and that if they are going to do it anyway, they should at least be well-paid so they can feed and house themselves and have time for leisure? It is not a hard jump to make -- but Thirkell can't allow it, so she has to re-invent Lydia as someone who is mourning the loss of her soft, ladylike hands (which I have a hard time believing hoydenish Lydia Keith ever actually had) and introduce Nanny Twicker to demonstrate what working class people are supposed to be like -- a ridiculous caricature whose favourite activity is doing laundry for 'her betters' and who despises her own family for being common to the extent that she refuses them food so she can give it to Colin and Lydia. It is so ridiculous and heavy handed, and really makes me wonder just what Thirkell herself did during the war and how she came out of the other side so much more unpleasant than she went in.
There are things I enjoyed, of course, or I would have just given up on it; the first few chapters are all lamentation and insistence that only a very few people are really human and everyone else just doesn't count, but once things start happening it did improve. I enjoyed the plot of Colin thinking he's in love with the lovely widow who is quite aware they're not really a match, and the pairing off of .
I suspect I'll read the next in October or so, since Thirkell is very much an autumn/winter sort of read for me.
And what ideology is it? Well, the first chapter is one long lament about everything that is horrible now that WW2 is over, including the weather (it has never been sunny since Dunkirk), houses (because there is some horrible idea afoot that everyone should be housed and so there are NOT ENOUGH HOUSES for the rich, they keep being taken by people from bombed-out cities who clearly don't deserve them), being a lady or gentleman (because nobody wants to work 12 hours a day for you as your servant, or give you their share of the food, or otherwise perform their designated role in making your life pleasant), social life (because there aren't enough of the 'right people' around to have parties), the Government (for trying to destroy 'traditional family life' by educating the violent lower classes who should be left to beat their children freely -- and education spoils lower class children because then they don't want to work as servants and expect time off and other dreadful things), the general decline of child labour (since now you can't get boys to work in the garden, they're all being educated and going to movies) and children in general, since all children are now thieves and it would be a better world if children were murdered when they misbehaved.
SOME of this is, of course, satire -- I don't think the child-killing bits (which are repeated several times!) are meant to be taken seriously, they are exaggeration to relieve everyone's upset feelings. But a lot of this is serious, the world that these incredibly privileged wealthy people grew up in has been destroyed, and they are constantly irate and despairing about it. And it is understandable as emotions, but as the book goes on it comes through more and more strongly that none of Thirkell's characters think anyone is human other than their 'own sort' -- other people are either obstacles (taking up houses) or spectacles (beating their children), but they only exist in reference to the upper middle classes, who are the real people in the world.
It's not like I didn't know this before -- I have read almost all the Thirkell there is, and I've been commenting as I go along with these reviews that sooner or later the ideology may overcome me. But I'm frustrated by it anyway, since along with being just generally gross, I feel like it undermines the character development that has been happening over the course of the WW2 novels. Lydia (and many other characters) were shown doing a lot of very hard & real work during the war, and having very natural emotions about the difficulties and challenges and sacrifices and their hopes for a better future. And of course the 'better future' has a huge element of 'things being like they used to be' -- here I am in June 2021 wishing the world would go back to its previous normal! I can entirely sympathise! But all that being said, why is it that Lydia, having exhausted herself in all kinds of labour, can't understand that NOBODY really wants to do that kind of work all the time, and that if they are going to do it anyway, they should at least be well-paid so they can feed and house themselves and have time for leisure? It is not a hard jump to make -- but Thirkell can't allow it, so she has to re-invent Lydia as someone who is mourning the loss of her soft, ladylike hands (which I have a hard time believing hoydenish Lydia Keith ever actually had) and introduce Nanny Twicker to demonstrate what working class people are supposed to be like -- a ridiculous caricature whose favourite activity is doing laundry for 'her betters' and who despises her own family for being common to the extent that she refuses them food so she can give it to Colin and Lydia. It is so ridiculous and heavy handed, and really makes me wonder just what Thirkell herself did during the war and how she came out of the other side so much more unpleasant than she went in.
There are things I enjoyed, of course, or I would have just given up on it; the first few chapters are all lamentation and insistence that only a very few people are really human and everyone else just doesn't count, but once things start happening it did improve. I enjoyed the plot of Colin thinking he's in love with the lovely widow who is quite aware they're not really a match, and the pairing off of .
I suspect I'll read the next in October or so, since Thirkell is very much an autumn/winter sort of read for me.
January 17, 2026
Angela Thirkell’s “Private Enterprise” is the 16th book from her Barsetshire series, which I have been reading in order for over a year. Many new and old characters and also a mystery from one of the previous books solved, (when old Miss Brandon died, her secretary heard something that did not make sense) it is clear now. I enjoyed reading about the lives of these characters and the main focus of this novel was Lydia and Noel Merton are introduced to the Arbutnots from Colin Keith her brother needing to find a small cottage for the widow of an army friend. The Brandons (mother and son, Francis), the younger Dean girls, Jessica and Susan. The war is over but things are still not so well regarding prices and homes. The new government without Churchill is favoring giving things to foreigners and not there citizens. I placed some quotes below which kind of bring this forth. In the past communism was glorified but in this book it seemed the romance has gone from the people but the government now is more liberal. The life in Britain changes more when men returning are having trouble finding jobs.
-Thirkell again has character authors mentioned at the book fair, it seems every book has at least one publication, F. E. Arbutnot’s bird book and Colin’s book this time.
This was a fun read because the characters become so familiar.
Story in short- Will Colin ever marry or is ge always to be the perpetual uncle bachelor?
It’s a pity there aren’t more like old Bunce in the Government,” said
Colin. “We need a more eighteenth-century set
Highlight (Yellow) and Note | Page 24
to see us through this mess. If they were gentlemen in the proper sense of the word, if they drank and
gambled and whored—excuse me, Noel, and I do hope I pronounced it properly, but one always feels a
bit nervous about it—and put people in the pillory or cut their ears off and encouraged child-labour, I’d
feel some faint hope for England. But as their one idea appears to be that everyone should do no work
and be highly paid for not doing it, I don’t see where we are going.”
Highlight (Yellow) and Note | Page 25
“I suppose,” said Lydia as they landed, “we’d better put the cushions and the paddle in Mr. Villars’s
boatshed. One never knows.” It was, her hearers felt, too sadly true. Nothing was safe now. Being a half-
holiday, it was quite on the cards that a boatload of the conceited, half-educated oafs and louts from
Barchester might pass and help themselves to portable property. Or the village school, red forcing-
ground for revolution, might steal what it could carry and throw the rest into the water. In neither case
would the police dare to prosecute, for very few magistrates dared or wished to support their own police.
Highlight (Yellow) | Page 243
“Oh, the Mixo-Lydians haven’t gone back to Mixo-Lydia,” said Mrs. Birkett, “only to London, where my
niece who lives in Kensington says they are universally loathed. Most of them are applying for
naturalization,” to which Everard Carter answered that he sometimes thought it was his duty, and
never, he said, would duty have been
8
Highlight (Yellow) and Note | Page 243
more gladly performed, to write to the Home Secretary every day protesting, simply as a matter of
routine, against every application for naturalization that appeared in The Times.
❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert
I found Peggy annoying just as Mrs. Brandon, Francis is a good son and is a bit annoying too, so when he finally proposed to Peggy, I was glad they all would be together but it was also like he was looking for the type of person just like his mother, which he seemed to make him happy. Will Peggy flirt after they are married, I bet she will and we shall see. Effie will marry Crofts soon, so that ties up that nicely, I felt badly for rejected Wicks but it seemed that she loved the other, though Effie and Wicks were similar. Noel is a cad and his flirting was on the wrong path which could have been real trouble if Peggy was more trouble than playful. It was sad to see the Birketts retire but good to see glimpses of past characters mentioned or briefly appear like Hacker and his boyish ways yet a grown man giving a speech. Laura Morland is always a delight especially with the mention of Tony being engaged. Colin was too much and very annoying but I hope that he finally sees that Susan Dean is everything that Peggy was not for him.
Characters--
-Mr. and Mrs. Noel Merton-Lydia (Keith), children Lativina and Harry, the Keith’s parents are both dead now, Noel and Lydia have been married 7 years. Lydia sees Colin mooning over Peggy, her brother who she loves seeing him upset worries her. When Lativina gets the measles, Lydia nurses her and Kate worries that Lydia's voice is "pale" and remembers when they were kids that Lydia never had the measles. Lydia gets the measles where Susan Dean nurses her. Noel who is a lawyer in London starts flirting with Peggy, remembering his past ways but loving Lydia, yet neglecting his wife. Peggy is like Mrs. Brandon, flirting but liking Lydia yet still up to mischief. Others are noticing, Lydia is suffering silently, Kate mentions to Noel about Lydia being "pale" which makes Noel made at her. Finally Jessica Dean in her way tells Noel what he has been doing and it effecting his wife. He then starts to see his mistake and makes up to Lydia without mentioning what he did. He is promoted which will keep him busier.
-Kate and Everard Carter- Lydia sister Kate, children Angela, Philip and Bobbie. Everard takes the position of headmaster of Southbridge school for boys after the Birketts retire. The loving couple remembering the summer they met.
-Colin Keith- Lydia’s and Kate's brother who taught for a summer at the boy’s school, and is familiar to the Birketts. He is in love with the widow Peggy Arbutnot and is looking for a cottage for her with modest means and her sister in law. 34 years old, Lydia says he will be the bachelor uncle, he likes kids and Lydia hopes he will marry. He becomes insufferable with his love for Peggy. Jessica Dean informs her friend Peggy and sees her sister Susan possibly with Colin. He writes a book on the railroads, law that Susan has helped him. The Deans are all well schooled by their engineer dad. Colin finally falls out of love with Peggy after several of her remarks and her concern for flirting with Noel Merton and Francis Brandon. He finally sees he likes Susan but he sees that she is not so easy and tells him a not so nasty way to grow up. She suggest he take a Christmastime vacation to Switzerland which she is going to do.
-Robert Keith and wife Edith-let Lydia and Noel take over the estate, Northbridge Manor. Robert is not mentioned much or his wife.
-Mr. Wickham- agent to Northbridge Manor, likes birds and finds Miss Effie Arbutnot a good companion to nature watching. In his 50's and a bachelor, had several different opinions with Effie, she kindly turned him down when he proposed, says she didn't love him. Wickham, "Wicks" enjoys drinking but not an excessive drinker was glad she refused him.
-Bunce - his father - the ferryman
-Effie Bunce - has two illegitimate children with possible fathers, young Hibberd and Syd Fitchett.
-Mrs. Villars- the pastor’s wife
-Gregory Villars- the pastor
-Miss Talbot and Dolly Talbot
-The Birketts- Southbridge headmaster that is to retire. Two daughters. Rose and Geraldine.
-The Fairweathers - Rose and Geraldine both married to the brothers, Rose had another healthy baby.
-Deans- Winter Overcoates- Mr Dean, (an engineer), wife Rachel, children- Laurence (4 kids), Helen (3 kids), Gerald (1 kid), Robin (twins), Betty (3 kids), Susan and Jessica.
-Father Fewling- (Tubby)
-Lavinia Brandon- daughter Delia Grant and son Francis Brandon son about Noel Merton’s age. Miss Feilding has been staying with the delicate babies that gave been staying at her home.
-Francis Brandon- just out of the army, He comforts his mother and was with Susan Dean but has fallen in love with Peggy. They dance together and appear in the red cross play Francis likes that his mother and Peggy really like each other and he proposes to Peggy in front of his mom, she accepts.
-Mrs. Arbutnot- widow of an army friend of Colin. Her husband, Fred was in the Indian regiment. Her husband had many eyes for other women. 27 yesrs old. Knows Jessica Dean from a play that Clover produced and is friends with them. A big flirt who is supposedly nice but mischievous. She flirts with Noel Merton for fun and she likes Lydia but if not for her, she might have set her sights on him. She seems to live herself more than others, though she does for others.
-Miss Effie Arbutnot- likes birds and more helpful than helpless like her sister-in-law, 37 years old, author of bird book, that Wickham suggested. Refused Wicks proposal and vowed to take care of Peggy, her brother wanted her to do this. She likes Crofts, when he proposes she says yes but say no until Peggy finds a new home. Mrs. Brandon seems to think Effie is familiar and it is because Miss Brandon, that died years ago looked like Effie. It becomes clear later that Miss Brandon's younger brother Fred had an affair with married Mrs. Arbutnot and had a son but it was a secret and Fred was transferred. So the flirting Fred married to Peggy had a flirting grandfather, he could have overcome this but he enjoyed too much in this sin. When Miss Brandon died long ago her last words were Mrs. Arbutnot, she was thinking there might be a child of her beloved Fred and died happy.
-Nanny Twicker- was the wife of the gardener and has been a nanny to the Keith family but thought poorly of her own grown-up children because they are not gentry.
-The Grant- Delia and her husband, Hilary, with children, Felicia and Freddy.
-Sir Edmund Pridham a trustee and once wanted to marry Mrs. Brandon.
-Mrs. Crawley- wife of the vicar with many children. One being Octavia Needham.
-Mr. Miller - the vicar of Pomfret Madrigal and his wife, Mrs. Miller before her marriage, old Miss Brandon’s secretary
-Robin Dale- assistant master at Southbridge to marry Anne Fielding within a year. In love and happy.
-Lord and Lady Fielding-Anne's parents and active in charity events.
-Mr. and Mrs. Propett- old sexton, before he died wanted the new vicar, Crofts not let his Bateman ring the church bell. He also says he was not married to his wife and the old rector knew and left him alone.
-Susan Dean- enjoying Francis Brandon as a friend, nurses Lydia and likes Colin enough to cure him of his love for Peggy. Red cross nurse and very helpful. She seems to be in love with Colin.
-Philip and Leslie Winters- Leslie Waring maiden name, had a baby son. Started a school from Cecil Waring’s property. Cecil is in the Navy.
-Colonel Crofts- after the military, he is to be ordained as a clergyman, Edward is his middle name. He has been a widow for years and his sons married with children. He propsed to Effie after his son’s encouraged that he should remarry. Effie says she will marry him when her sister in kaw is remarried.
-Bateman-Captain or Vicar’s batman in the military. Looks after Crofts and looks to be interested in marrying Eileen the barmaid. Moderate in his like for alcohol and generous.
-Mrs. Dingle -housekeeper at Adelina Cottage
-Mr. Brown -owes Red Lion Inn
-Ethel, Rose and nurse Vance who work for Lavinia Brandon, Miss Feilding who has several babies that she looks after at Mrs. Brandon’s home is known being told by her Matron that the school is moving to Sussex.
-Dr. Sparling- retired from her position in the girls’ school but to marry writer Carton.
-Mr. Carton- will marry Sparling. author of books and learned.
-The Bissells- Edna- Mrs. Bissells great niece who was in past story but who ia mentally not tgere, ch
-Roddy Wicklow-his wife Alice Barton- three small children
-Chives- gardner and was in the military, gets along with Bateman
-Shergold- new teacher at Southbridge
-Mr. Charles Fanshawe, the Dean of Paul’s College who married Dean’s eldest daughter, Helen Dean. with children.
-Jessica Dean- the youngest daughter who is in the theater
-Aubrey Clover- playwright that knows Jessica Dean and Peggy Arbuthnot.
-Miss Hampton and Bent- friends that rent near the Arbuthnot and both work at the school.
-Chives- not all there in intelligence gardener of the four houses of Paul’s college
-Mrs. David Leslie- is Rose, who had known David since they were young and married in book 15.
-Mrs. Rivers author - appears at the book fair
-George Knox and his wife- at the Red Cross book fair
-Laura Morland who tells about Tony serving in India, is engaged
-Lord and Lady Pomfret-Sally and Gilles Foster. Sally in charge of Red Cross Exhibit
-Bishop Joram- frequent visitor of Mrs. Brandon
-Thirkell again has character authors mentioned at the book fair, it seems every book has at least one publication, F. E. Arbutnot’s bird book and Colin’s book this time.
This was a fun read because the characters become so familiar.
Story in short- Will Colin ever marry or is ge always to be the perpetual uncle bachelor?
It’s a pity there aren’t more like old Bunce in the Government,” said
Colin. “We need a more eighteenth-century set
Highlight (Yellow) and Note | Page 24
to see us through this mess. If they were gentlemen in the proper sense of the word, if they drank and
gambled and whored—excuse me, Noel, and I do hope I pronounced it properly, but one always feels a
bit nervous about it—and put people in the pillory or cut their ears off and encouraged child-labour, I’d
feel some faint hope for England. But as their one idea appears to be that everyone should do no work
and be highly paid for not doing it, I don’t see where we are going.”
Highlight (Yellow) and Note | Page 25
“I suppose,” said Lydia as they landed, “we’d better put the cushions and the paddle in Mr. Villars’s
boatshed. One never knows.” It was, her hearers felt, too sadly true. Nothing was safe now. Being a half-
holiday, it was quite on the cards that a boatload of the conceited, half-educated oafs and louts from
Barchester might pass and help themselves to portable property. Or the village school, red forcing-
ground for revolution, might steal what it could carry and throw the rest into the water. In neither case
would the police dare to prosecute, for very few magistrates dared or wished to support their own police.
Highlight (Yellow) | Page 243
“Oh, the Mixo-Lydians haven’t gone back to Mixo-Lydia,” said Mrs. Birkett, “only to London, where my
niece who lives in Kensington says they are universally loathed. Most of them are applying for
naturalization,” to which Everard Carter answered that he sometimes thought it was his duty, and
never, he said, would duty have been
8
Highlight (Yellow) and Note | Page 243
more gladly performed, to write to the Home Secretary every day protesting, simply as a matter of
routine, against every application for naturalization that appeared in The Times.
❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert
I found Peggy annoying just as Mrs. Brandon, Francis is a good son and is a bit annoying too, so when he finally proposed to Peggy, I was glad they all would be together but it was also like he was looking for the type of person just like his mother, which he seemed to make him happy. Will Peggy flirt after they are married, I bet she will and we shall see. Effie will marry Crofts soon, so that ties up that nicely, I felt badly for rejected Wicks but it seemed that she loved the other, though Effie and Wicks were similar. Noel is a cad and his flirting was on the wrong path which could have been real trouble if Peggy was more trouble than playful. It was sad to see the Birketts retire but good to see glimpses of past characters mentioned or briefly appear like Hacker and his boyish ways yet a grown man giving a speech. Laura Morland is always a delight especially with the mention of Tony being engaged. Colin was too much and very annoying but I hope that he finally sees that Susan Dean is everything that Peggy was not for him.
Characters--
-Mr. and Mrs. Noel Merton-Lydia (Keith), children Lativina and Harry, the Keith’s parents are both dead now, Noel and Lydia have been married 7 years. Lydia sees Colin mooning over Peggy, her brother who she loves seeing him upset worries her. When Lativina gets the measles, Lydia nurses her and Kate worries that Lydia's voice is "pale" and remembers when they were kids that Lydia never had the measles. Lydia gets the measles where Susan Dean nurses her. Noel who is a lawyer in London starts flirting with Peggy, remembering his past ways but loving Lydia, yet neglecting his wife. Peggy is like Mrs. Brandon, flirting but liking Lydia yet still up to mischief. Others are noticing, Lydia is suffering silently, Kate mentions to Noel about Lydia being "pale" which makes Noel made at her. Finally Jessica Dean in her way tells Noel what he has been doing and it effecting his wife. He then starts to see his mistake and makes up to Lydia without mentioning what he did. He is promoted which will keep him busier.
-Kate and Everard Carter- Lydia sister Kate, children Angela, Philip and Bobbie. Everard takes the position of headmaster of Southbridge school for boys after the Birketts retire. The loving couple remembering the summer they met.
-Colin Keith- Lydia’s and Kate's brother who taught for a summer at the boy’s school, and is familiar to the Birketts. He is in love with the widow Peggy Arbutnot and is looking for a cottage for her with modest means and her sister in law. 34 years old, Lydia says he will be the bachelor uncle, he likes kids and Lydia hopes he will marry. He becomes insufferable with his love for Peggy. Jessica Dean informs her friend Peggy and sees her sister Susan possibly with Colin. He writes a book on the railroads, law that Susan has helped him. The Deans are all well schooled by their engineer dad. Colin finally falls out of love with Peggy after several of her remarks and her concern for flirting with Noel Merton and Francis Brandon. He finally sees he likes Susan but he sees that she is not so easy and tells him a not so nasty way to grow up. She suggest he take a Christmastime vacation to Switzerland which she is going to do.
-Robert Keith and wife Edith-let Lydia and Noel take over the estate, Northbridge Manor. Robert is not mentioned much or his wife.
-Mr. Wickham- agent to Northbridge Manor, likes birds and finds Miss Effie Arbutnot a good companion to nature watching. In his 50's and a bachelor, had several different opinions with Effie, she kindly turned him down when he proposed, says she didn't love him. Wickham, "Wicks" enjoys drinking but not an excessive drinker was glad she refused him.
-Bunce - his father - the ferryman
-Effie Bunce - has two illegitimate children with possible fathers, young Hibberd and Syd Fitchett.
-Mrs. Villars- the pastor’s wife
-Gregory Villars- the pastor
-Miss Talbot and Dolly Talbot
-The Birketts- Southbridge headmaster that is to retire. Two daughters. Rose and Geraldine.
-The Fairweathers - Rose and Geraldine both married to the brothers, Rose had another healthy baby.
-Deans- Winter Overcoates- Mr Dean, (an engineer), wife Rachel, children- Laurence (4 kids), Helen (3 kids), Gerald (1 kid), Robin (twins), Betty (3 kids), Susan and Jessica.
-Father Fewling- (Tubby)
-Lavinia Brandon- daughter Delia Grant and son Francis Brandon son about Noel Merton’s age. Miss Feilding has been staying with the delicate babies that gave been staying at her home.
-Francis Brandon- just out of the army, He comforts his mother and was with Susan Dean but has fallen in love with Peggy. They dance together and appear in the red cross play Francis likes that his mother and Peggy really like each other and he proposes to Peggy in front of his mom, she accepts.
-Mrs. Arbutnot- widow of an army friend of Colin. Her husband, Fred was in the Indian regiment. Her husband had many eyes for other women. 27 yesrs old. Knows Jessica Dean from a play that Clover produced and is friends with them. A big flirt who is supposedly nice but mischievous. She flirts with Noel Merton for fun and she likes Lydia but if not for her, she might have set her sights on him. She seems to live herself more than others, though she does for others.
-Miss Effie Arbutnot- likes birds and more helpful than helpless like her sister-in-law, 37 years old, author of bird book, that Wickham suggested. Refused Wicks proposal and vowed to take care of Peggy, her brother wanted her to do this. She likes Crofts, when he proposes she says yes but say no until Peggy finds a new home. Mrs. Brandon seems to think Effie is familiar and it is because Miss Brandon, that died years ago looked like Effie. It becomes clear later that Miss Brandon's younger brother Fred had an affair with married Mrs. Arbutnot and had a son but it was a secret and Fred was transferred. So the flirting Fred married to Peggy had a flirting grandfather, he could have overcome this but he enjoyed too much in this sin. When Miss Brandon died long ago her last words were Mrs. Arbutnot, she was thinking there might be a child of her beloved Fred and died happy.
-Nanny Twicker- was the wife of the gardener and has been a nanny to the Keith family but thought poorly of her own grown-up children because they are not gentry.
-The Grant- Delia and her husband, Hilary, with children, Felicia and Freddy.
-Sir Edmund Pridham a trustee and once wanted to marry Mrs. Brandon.
-Mrs. Crawley- wife of the vicar with many children. One being Octavia Needham.
-Mr. Miller - the vicar of Pomfret Madrigal and his wife, Mrs. Miller before her marriage, old Miss Brandon’s secretary
-Robin Dale- assistant master at Southbridge to marry Anne Fielding within a year. In love and happy.
-Lord and Lady Fielding-Anne's parents and active in charity events.
-Mr. and Mrs. Propett- old sexton, before he died wanted the new vicar, Crofts not let his Bateman ring the church bell. He also says he was not married to his wife and the old rector knew and left him alone.
-Susan Dean- enjoying Francis Brandon as a friend, nurses Lydia and likes Colin enough to cure him of his love for Peggy. Red cross nurse and very helpful. She seems to be in love with Colin.
-Philip and Leslie Winters- Leslie Waring maiden name, had a baby son. Started a school from Cecil Waring’s property. Cecil is in the Navy.
-Colonel Crofts- after the military, he is to be ordained as a clergyman, Edward is his middle name. He has been a widow for years and his sons married with children. He propsed to Effie after his son’s encouraged that he should remarry. Effie says she will marry him when her sister in kaw is remarried.
-Bateman-Captain or Vicar’s batman in the military. Looks after Crofts and looks to be interested in marrying Eileen the barmaid. Moderate in his like for alcohol and generous.
-Mrs. Dingle -housekeeper at Adelina Cottage
-Mr. Brown -owes Red Lion Inn
-Ethel, Rose and nurse Vance who work for Lavinia Brandon, Miss Feilding who has several babies that she looks after at Mrs. Brandon’s home is known being told by her Matron that the school is moving to Sussex.
-Dr. Sparling- retired from her position in the girls’ school but to marry writer Carton.
-Mr. Carton- will marry Sparling. author of books and learned.
-The Bissells- Edna- Mrs. Bissells great niece who was in past story but who ia mentally not tgere, ch
-Roddy Wicklow-his wife Alice Barton- three small children
-Chives- gardner and was in the military, gets along with Bateman
-Shergold- new teacher at Southbridge
-Mr. Charles Fanshawe, the Dean of Paul’s College who married Dean’s eldest daughter, Helen Dean. with children.
-Jessica Dean- the youngest daughter who is in the theater
-Aubrey Clover- playwright that knows Jessica Dean and Peggy Arbuthnot.
-Miss Hampton and Bent- friends that rent near the Arbuthnot and both work at the school.
-Chives- not all there in intelligence gardener of the four houses of Paul’s college
-Mrs. David Leslie- is Rose, who had known David since they were young and married in book 15.
-Mrs. Rivers author - appears at the book fair
-George Knox and his wife- at the Red Cross book fair
-Laura Morland who tells about Tony serving in India, is engaged
-Lord and Lady Pomfret-Sally and Gilles Foster. Sally in charge of Red Cross Exhibit
-Bishop Joram- frequent visitor of Mrs. Brandon
September 15, 2022
I discovered this book on the Internet Archive where they have one (1) copy. Often it was available but on a few occasions I found: "Borrow Unavailable. - Another patron is using this book. Please check back later." A curious way to do things, surely. Probably this is due to copyright issues. Still the book is unavailable otherwise so I was very happy to find it here.
We have come to 1946 and things have not improved. The rationing is still in force, most conversations devolve into discussions about food. Even the weather is bad! A cold wet summer flows along and our cast of characters – most of them well-known to readers of the series – struggle along with or against the flow. Everyone hates the government – everyone being our upper-middle-class regulars and their obedient servants. The men have professions, working as lawyers, vicars, school-teachers or headmasters, or even merchants... not owning a shop or anything so crude and probably never touching money except to spend it. The women run the estate or the household, or work as nurses or writers one is even a librarian! There are too few servants and those mostly older. The world is changing and nobody likes it.
A pretty young widow, Mrs Arbuthnot, moves into the neighbourhood, together with her somewhat less pretty spinster sister-in-law. Surprisingly, and pleasingly, not only Mrs Arbuthnot but also Miss Arbuthnot set hearts aflame.
Mrs Morland, a favourite character, has only a small part. Mrs Brandon, another favourite, has considerably more to say and do, but it is Lydia, now married to Noel Merton, who is the main protagonist. Her brother, Colin, helps Mrs Arbuthnot find a house in Barchester while falling in love with her and behaves foolishly throughout the book. Noel also behaves foolishly but the reader is not worried as he has too much good sense to embarrass himself. Susan Dean blossoms as a Red Cross Librarian, and her younger sister Jessica, is now a celebrated actress on the London stage.
Nothing much happens. The end of school speech day is highlighted by the retirement of Mr Birkett and the promotion of Everard Carter to headmaster. Naturally there is a party. The Red Cross Bookbinding Fair draws everyone together, later on the Red Cross fête brings them all together again. And that's about it! The Arbuthnots renovate their cottage, Lydia's daughter gets the measles, Colonel Crofts, now ordained, becomes vicar of Southbridge, four people become engaged.
"'It's a pity there aren't more like old Bunce in the Government,' said Colin. 'We need a more eighteenth-century set to see us through this mess. If they were gentlemen in the proper sense of the word, if they drank and gambled and whored – excuse me, Noel, and I do hope I pronounced it properly, but one always feels a bit nervous about it – put people in the pillory or cut their ears off and encouraged child-labour, I'd feel some faint hope for England. But as their one idea appears to be that everyone should do no work and be highly paid for not doing it, I don't see where we are going.'" p. 24
“Old Bunce,” the ferryman at Northbridge. Claimed the war would start in the fall because he knew the signs. Daughters Effie and Ruby. Foul-mouthed domestic tyrant, suspected of beating his daughters (who probably deserved it.) Probably meant to be a descendant of Trollope’s Bunce, senior bedesman in Hiram’s Hospital, though Old Bunce represents all the negative traits of the 'lower orders,' unlike Trollope’s Bunce."
This information helpfully provided by The Angela Thirkell Society of North America.
"This site has been created with the help of many different people and companies."
These are harsh words by Colin who is otherwise a decent young man – apart from his wasting passion for Mrs Arbuthnot, and failure to see Susan Dean standing in front of him.
As usual, Ms Thirkell supplies an abundance of perspicacity and humour.
"Noel, who unlike many husbands was always willing to be agreeable at breakfast,..." p. 69-70
"...But Miss Arbuthnot, whose eyes could tell a gallowsbird from a broad-tailed mippet at a hundred yards, or count the spots on the mother whisky-soda bird's breast without its suspecting her presence..." p. 122
Ms Thirkell knows nothing about birds which does not prevent her writing about a couple of inveterate bird-watchers; it seems rather to spur her imagination in inventing names.
"The Vicar's aunt said it was all very well for bedridden or very aged persons, a class of whom she seemed to have the lowest opinion, but wireless was one of the major factors in the decay of Christianity, and if people thought that turning a knob was the same as going to church they would discover their error when it was Too Late, a statement that struck terror into her hearers." p. 135
"'They call me Francis, people say, because it is my name' said Francis Brandon impersonally, to which Mrs. Arbuthnot, to his surprise and pleasure, said she thought even a simple Rum-ti-Foozleite could remember that, and both laughed..." p. 146
Thanks to the "relusions" available in the Guide to the Novels section of The Angela Thirkell Society - UK - the Private Enterprise pdf,wonderfully presented by Hilary Temple, I learnt that this is an allusion to 'They called him Peter, people say,/ Because it was his name..." which is in one of the Bab Ballads by W.S. Gilbert. Notes on this and many other quotations and allusions are a great help for someone whose knowledge of English Literature is much less inclusive and extensive than Ms. Thirkell's.
Just how extensive the literary bug is in Barsetshire we learn at the Red Cross Bookbinding Fair where authors mentioned in previous of Ms Thirkell's books are listed as their books are presented rebound: "Francis looked at them. Barsetshire might indeed be proud. Old Lord Pomfret's A Landowner in Five Reigns, his mother's novelA Step Too Far, which had shocked Mr. Gladstone, biographical works by George Knox, a pile of Mrs. Morland's best-sellers about Madame Koska, the late and Rev. J.J. Damper's Peregrinations in Palestine, Mr Dowling's scholarly edition of an early twelfth-century Tenso by Peire de Baruelh on a dispute between two troubadours as to the relative merits of a mole upon their respective ladies' respective cheek and bosom regarded as a powerful incentive to amour par amictiez, Philip Winter's little book on Horace, which still brought to him and the Oxbridge University Press a regular income of something under three pounds, Mrs. Barton's Renaissance novels, her husband's Minor Domestic Architecture of East Barsetshire, a copy of the sixth Earl of Pomfret's translation of an ode of Ronsard privately printed, Miss Hampton's powerful novels, most of which had been banned in Manchester and the Vatican City, a book on the French romantic poet Jehan le Capet alias Eugéne Duval by Hilary Grant, who had married Delia Brandon, and others too numerous to catalogue, especially as we have not yet invented them." p. 173-174.
"To be neglected by the woman of one's heart and then on top of that to be told not to be late by Susan Dean, whom one had taken for a more sympathetic kind of fellow, was almost more than Colin could bear. For twopence he would have shed tears of rage. Had he been dark, with a pale skin and finely chiselled nose, he would have assumed an ostentations Byronic gloom; but being an ordinary young man, though with a very pleasant face when not ravaged by the blind god, he merely looked sulky, of which manifestation of true love no one took the slightest notice. "p. 182
"The blind god" is Cupid – according to Hilary Temple, and Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream
"Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind
And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind..."
"...'If the Food Ministry would stop pampering the children with milk and oranges and bananas, which again no child likes by nature and I may add that the nutritive value of bananas is a highly moot question, and look after the housewives of England, they would show a little sense. But that of course one cannot expect', [said Mrs. Bissell, wife of the Headmaster of the Hosiers’ Boys’ Foundation School and previously a sympathetic socialist].
Mr Shergold said not this lot anyway and for his part whenever he read about shiploads of bananas coming from Jamaica he went hopping mad at the thought that it might have been rum..." p. 302
The vicar proposes:
"'Money is an unpleasant subject, but I may as well tell you at once that [my sons] are quite independent of me, as they inherited money from an uncle and have married wives with money. And I am quite comfortably off myself and can make a settlement upon you which will leave you independent when I die.'
'But you mustn't die,' said Miss Arbuthnot. 'I couldn't bear it. Oh, and I don't know your name..." p. 363
She knows him as Colonel Crofts but not as Edward, which is his name, though no one says so.
"...Miss Arbuthnot, with the astounding amount of thinking that one's mind can cram into a few seconds when it has nothing else to do, came to the conclusion that what she had to say was not worth saying. If, as certainly appeared probable, a Captain Brandon of whom she had never heard had rashly made himself her illegitimate grandfather at Poona in 1876, what did it matter at all. It was a curious piece of scandal and everything fitted in, but it affected no one now, and even if it were shouted from the house-tops no one would be interested. With an inward blush she had to admit to herself, in those seconds of swift thought which confuse all ones' ordinary notions about time and space, that she had been dramatizing herself and had only just in time realized it. There was really nothing to disclose to Colonel Crofts, nothing to hide from him. In its time and place the story might be told to him, an old, foolish, far-off thing, but not one that could in any way affect their relationship..." p. 390
Despite all their struggle to maintain the old values, things change. I suspect that this would not be a pre-war sentiment.
All in all a very gossipy book with considerable warmth and humour but also considerable crabbing. The war-time phrase "mustn't grumble" has gone with the cold summer wind.
This is a novel of manners of the upper-middle-class in post-war England. Not everyone behaves well, according to their station, but those who do not are given their comeuppance by Ms Thirkell or by one of her characters. Susan Dean's little sister Jessica, the celebrated actress, is particularly good at this.
Most of our characters behave very well, those who do not behave well most of the time. Fortunately for our story not all of the people behave well all of the time.
We have come to 1946 and things have not improved. The rationing is still in force, most conversations devolve into discussions about food. Even the weather is bad! A cold wet summer flows along and our cast of characters – most of them well-known to readers of the series – struggle along with or against the flow. Everyone hates the government – everyone being our upper-middle-class regulars and their obedient servants. The men have professions, working as lawyers, vicars, school-teachers or headmasters, or even merchants... not owning a shop or anything so crude and probably never touching money except to spend it. The women run the estate or the household, or work as nurses or writers one is even a librarian! There are too few servants and those mostly older. The world is changing and nobody likes it.
A pretty young widow, Mrs Arbuthnot, moves into the neighbourhood, together with her somewhat less pretty spinster sister-in-law. Surprisingly, and pleasingly, not only Mrs Arbuthnot but also Miss Arbuthnot set hearts aflame.
Mrs Morland, a favourite character, has only a small part. Mrs Brandon, another favourite, has considerably more to say and do, but it is Lydia, now married to Noel Merton, who is the main protagonist. Her brother, Colin, helps Mrs Arbuthnot find a house in Barchester while falling in love with her and behaves foolishly throughout the book. Noel also behaves foolishly but the reader is not worried as he has too much good sense to embarrass himself. Susan Dean blossoms as a Red Cross Librarian, and her younger sister Jessica, is now a celebrated actress on the London stage.
Nothing much happens. The end of school speech day is highlighted by the retirement of Mr Birkett and the promotion of Everard Carter to headmaster. Naturally there is a party. The Red Cross Bookbinding Fair draws everyone together, later on the Red Cross fête brings them all together again. And that's about it! The Arbuthnots renovate their cottage, Lydia's daughter gets the measles, Colonel Crofts, now ordained, becomes vicar of Southbridge, four people become engaged.
"'It's a pity there aren't more like old Bunce in the Government,' said Colin. 'We need a more eighteenth-century set to see us through this mess. If they were gentlemen in the proper sense of the word, if they drank and gambled and whored – excuse me, Noel, and I do hope I pronounced it properly, but one always feels a bit nervous about it – put people in the pillory or cut their ears off and encouraged child-labour, I'd feel some faint hope for England. But as their one idea appears to be that everyone should do no work and be highly paid for not doing it, I don't see where we are going.'" p. 24
“Old Bunce,” the ferryman at Northbridge. Claimed the war would start in the fall because he knew the signs. Daughters Effie and Ruby. Foul-mouthed domestic tyrant, suspected of beating his daughters (who probably deserved it.) Probably meant to be a descendant of Trollope’s Bunce, senior bedesman in Hiram’s Hospital, though Old Bunce represents all the negative traits of the 'lower orders,' unlike Trollope’s Bunce."
This information helpfully provided by The Angela Thirkell Society of North America.
"This site has been created with the help of many different people and companies."
These are harsh words by Colin who is otherwise a decent young man – apart from his wasting passion for Mrs Arbuthnot, and failure to see Susan Dean standing in front of him.
As usual, Ms Thirkell supplies an abundance of perspicacity and humour.
"Noel, who unlike many husbands was always willing to be agreeable at breakfast,..." p. 69-70
"...But Miss Arbuthnot, whose eyes could tell a gallowsbird from a broad-tailed mippet at a hundred yards, or count the spots on the mother whisky-soda bird's breast without its suspecting her presence..." p. 122
Ms Thirkell knows nothing about birds which does not prevent her writing about a couple of inveterate bird-watchers; it seems rather to spur her imagination in inventing names.
"The Vicar's aunt said it was all very well for bedridden or very aged persons, a class of whom she seemed to have the lowest opinion, but wireless was one of the major factors in the decay of Christianity, and if people thought that turning a knob was the same as going to church they would discover their error when it was Too Late, a statement that struck terror into her hearers." p. 135
"'They call me Francis, people say, because it is my name' said Francis Brandon impersonally, to which Mrs. Arbuthnot, to his surprise and pleasure, said she thought even a simple Rum-ti-Foozleite could remember that, and both laughed..." p. 146
Thanks to the "relusions" available in the Guide to the Novels section of The Angela Thirkell Society - UK - the Private Enterprise pdf,wonderfully presented by Hilary Temple, I learnt that this is an allusion to 'They called him Peter, people say,/ Because it was his name..." which is in one of the Bab Ballads by W.S. Gilbert. Notes on this and many other quotations and allusions are a great help for someone whose knowledge of English Literature is much less inclusive and extensive than Ms. Thirkell's.
Just how extensive the literary bug is in Barsetshire we learn at the Red Cross Bookbinding Fair where authors mentioned in previous of Ms Thirkell's books are listed as their books are presented rebound: "Francis looked at them. Barsetshire might indeed be proud. Old Lord Pomfret's A Landowner in Five Reigns, his mother's novelA Step Too Far, which had shocked Mr. Gladstone, biographical works by George Knox, a pile of Mrs. Morland's best-sellers about Madame Koska, the late and Rev. J.J. Damper's Peregrinations in Palestine, Mr Dowling's scholarly edition of an early twelfth-century Tenso by Peire de Baruelh on a dispute between two troubadours as to the relative merits of a mole upon their respective ladies' respective cheek and bosom regarded as a powerful incentive to amour par amictiez, Philip Winter's little book on Horace, which still brought to him and the Oxbridge University Press a regular income of something under three pounds, Mrs. Barton's Renaissance novels, her husband's Minor Domestic Architecture of East Barsetshire, a copy of the sixth Earl of Pomfret's translation of an ode of Ronsard privately printed, Miss Hampton's powerful novels, most of which had been banned in Manchester and the Vatican City, a book on the French romantic poet Jehan le Capet alias Eugéne Duval by Hilary Grant, who had married Delia Brandon, and others too numerous to catalogue, especially as we have not yet invented them." p. 173-174.
"To be neglected by the woman of one's heart and then on top of that to be told not to be late by Susan Dean, whom one had taken for a more sympathetic kind of fellow, was almost more than Colin could bear. For twopence he would have shed tears of rage. Had he been dark, with a pale skin and finely chiselled nose, he would have assumed an ostentations Byronic gloom; but being an ordinary young man, though with a very pleasant face when not ravaged by the blind god, he merely looked sulky, of which manifestation of true love no one took the slightest notice. "p. 182
"The blind god" is Cupid – according to Hilary Temple, and Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream
"Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind
And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind..."
"...'If the Food Ministry would stop pampering the children with milk and oranges and bananas, which again no child likes by nature and I may add that the nutritive value of bananas is a highly moot question, and look after the housewives of England, they would show a little sense. But that of course one cannot expect', [said Mrs. Bissell, wife of the Headmaster of the Hosiers’ Boys’ Foundation School and previously a sympathetic socialist].
Mr Shergold said not this lot anyway and for his part whenever he read about shiploads of bananas coming from Jamaica he went hopping mad at the thought that it might have been rum..." p. 302
The vicar proposes:
"'Money is an unpleasant subject, but I may as well tell you at once that [my sons] are quite independent of me, as they inherited money from an uncle and have married wives with money. And I am quite comfortably off myself and can make a settlement upon you which will leave you independent when I die.'
'But you mustn't die,' said Miss Arbuthnot. 'I couldn't bear it. Oh, and I don't know your name..." p. 363
She knows him as Colonel Crofts but not as Edward, which is his name, though no one says so.
"...Miss Arbuthnot, with the astounding amount of thinking that one's mind can cram into a few seconds when it has nothing else to do, came to the conclusion that what she had to say was not worth saying. If, as certainly appeared probable, a Captain Brandon of whom she had never heard had rashly made himself her illegitimate grandfather at Poona in 1876, what did it matter at all. It was a curious piece of scandal and everything fitted in, but it affected no one now, and even if it were shouted from the house-tops no one would be interested. With an inward blush she had to admit to herself, in those seconds of swift thought which confuse all ones' ordinary notions about time and space, that she had been dramatizing herself and had only just in time realized it. There was really nothing to disclose to Colonel Crofts, nothing to hide from him. In its time and place the story might be told to him, an old, foolish, far-off thing, but not one that could in any way affect their relationship..." p. 390
Despite all their struggle to maintain the old values, things change. I suspect that this would not be a pre-war sentiment.
All in all a very gossipy book with considerable warmth and humour but also considerable crabbing. The war-time phrase "mustn't grumble" has gone with the cold summer wind.
This is a novel of manners of the upper-middle-class in post-war England. Not everyone behaves well, according to their station, but those who do not are given their comeuppance by Ms Thirkell or by one of her characters. Susan Dean's little sister Jessica, the celebrated actress, is particularly good at this.
Most of our characters behave very well, those who do not behave well most of the time. Fortunately for our story not all of the people behave well all of the time.
February 9, 2013
It seems that any Thirkell book I decide to order shows up at the perfect time: a few times I got one just before a snow day; other times one has fallen into a gap in my other reading. Private Enterprise, which I don't think I've read before, followed that pattern, arriving just when I needed/wanted a break and was ready for some good reading to get me through The Blizzard of 2013, aka "Nemo." Even tho we didn't get a whole day off for snow, I did take to the couch with Private Enterprise during our early release afternoon, and I read and snoozed quite pleasantly.
While not one of Thirkell's best books, PE is enjoyable and informative. If one has read a lot of the other books in the series, one knows the plot already: Noel's little flirtation, Lydia's measles, etc, but it was good to read it firsthand. The informative part is the details that Thirkell provides about the on-going rationing and privation that "They" (the post-War gov't) inflicted on the British population--I felt that I could really see the start of the meager times ahead, the unemployment, lack of expectation, and even the obsession with food (something I noticed when I was living in Colchester and involved in the non-university community there, and that was 1983!). A little more troubling was Thirkell's not-altogether-satirical sneery attitude toward women and other newcomers in the work force. Ouch. The old guard was not always graceful in its retirement! Certainly it was an interesting juxtaposition to watch "Downton Abbey," Season I, and then read this novel and be living in the US, 2013. How times change.
And now: back to the storm watching.
While not one of Thirkell's best books, PE is enjoyable and informative. If one has read a lot of the other books in the series, one knows the plot already: Noel's little flirtation, Lydia's measles, etc, but it was good to read it firsthand. The informative part is the details that Thirkell provides about the on-going rationing and privation that "They" (the post-War gov't) inflicted on the British population--I felt that I could really see the start of the meager times ahead, the unemployment, lack of expectation, and even the obsession with food (something I noticed when I was living in Colchester and involved in the non-university community there, and that was 1983!). A little more troubling was Thirkell's not-altogether-satirical sneery attitude toward women and other newcomers in the work force. Ouch. The old guard was not always graceful in its retirement! Certainly it was an interesting juxtaposition to watch "Downton Abbey," Season I, and then read this novel and be living in the US, 2013. How times change.
And now: back to the storm watching.
Read
February 15, 2016I was surprised by how dire things still are for the residents of Barsetshire after WWII is over. All my WWII literature tends to end with or shortly after the war, so there's a sense of tremendous relief and celebration. Thirkell paints a different (and I suspect more accurate) picture of a nation still suffering from wartime privation and rationing, still short of fuel and food, and now lacking the overwhelming patriotism that was such a support during the war. It's fascinating to see how slowly things really got back to normal (and of course for the "county" people of Barsetshire and elsewhere, they never really did).
On a different note, I'm pretty fed up with the Moyer Bell editions of Thirkell's works which are, unfortunately, generally the easiest editions to obtain. They are riddled with really glaring editing mistakes which make me wonder if any English speaker even looks at them before they go to print. Virago seems to be slowly releasing their own editions which are beautifully edited and have much more appealing covers, so I always look for those first. Anything is better than Moyer Bell.
On a different note, I'm pretty fed up with the Moyer Bell editions of Thirkell's works which are, unfortunately, generally the easiest editions to obtain. They are riddled with really glaring editing mistakes which make me wonder if any English speaker even looks at them before they go to print. Virago seems to be slowly releasing their own editions which are beautifully edited and have much more appealing covers, so I always look for those first. Anything is better than Moyer Bell.
July 10, 2009
An attractive widow settles in Barchester, and the young men are falling over each other to get near her. Unlike most such novels, Mrs Arbuthnot isn't a designing temptress; she has readers' sympathy.
PRIVATE ENTERPRISE is the longest-seeming Thirkell novel I have read. She spends a lot of time blaming the Labor government for the privations suffered by private citizens after the war. She may be right, I don't know, but she doesn't need to put us through so many conversations about it. It's too bad, because Mrs Arbuthnot's story is quite appealing.
I have 3 of Thirkell's books published in 1947, presumably including the ones held over from wartime and "the peace," when there wasn't enough paper for the publication of books that would normally have come out.
PRIVATE ENTERPRISE is the longest-seeming Thirkell novel I have read. She spends a lot of time blaming the Labor government for the privations suffered by private citizens after the war. She may be right, I don't know, but she doesn't need to put us through so many conversations about it. It's too bad, because Mrs Arbuthnot's story is quite appealing.
I have 3 of Thirkell's books published in 1947, presumably including the ones held over from wartime and "the peace," when there wasn't enough paper for the publication of books that would normally have come out.
February 1, 2016
This is one of the longest of the books - gets a little heavy to hold when reading in bed! It covers a lot of ground but is primarily driven by new settlers, the Arbuthnots. One is a lovely young war widow whose late husband was less than satisfactory; the other is her sister-in-law, who loved her brother even though she knew he made his wife unhappy. They of course get mixed up in the various doings of the county and meet many of our old friends. Lydia Merton and her brother Colin Keith also play a large part in the story, as do the Brandons. Even Jessica Dean and Aubrey Clover make a longer appearance than usual. There is also a fun twist towards the end, to add a little more interest. It refers back to an earlier book.
February 4, 2013
More fusty, meandering Brit Lit. This author was seriously prolific and wrote during (and about) the late 1800's right up to her time of death. All stories are in the same village and thought the characters mature, get married (or not), and die in the course of all 50 something books, it really doesnt' matter what order you read them in. She practiced the now out of style author's intrusion of explaining who is who and pertinent facts from the past. In fact, most of the time these are the best parts. She has a very dry sense of humor and once you get the flavor, you'll find yourself laughing out loud in a way that just isn't quite the modern LOL variety.
April 9, 2012
I'll only give this one 3 stars, as I thought it was a little too long, with way too many tea parties, but as usual with Angela Thirkell, very witty. The conversations about what "They" in the government were up to were priceless. The general feeling that "the peace was worse than the war, except for the bombing" was quite on par with the shortages England experienced after WW2. And, "They're planning to do something nasty with the bread" made me laugh out loud.
March 20, 2024
3.5
I remembered hardly anything about this book, only remember the Lydia and Noel Merton plot
More like the pre-war books but the lightness of the 1930 books has ( understandably) gone since WW2
Some interesting post war social comments, especially in relation to the more severe post war rationing of food
Solid book of the series with mixture of new and old characters in the series plus social and historical commentary
I remembered hardly anything about this book, only remember the Lydia and Noel Merton plot
More like the pre-war books but the lightness of the 1930 books has ( understandably) gone since WW2
Some interesting post war social comments, especially in relation to the more severe post war rationing of food
Solid book of the series with mixture of new and old characters in the series plus social and historical commentary
August 2, 2022
Another Angela Thirkell book where pretty much nothing happens except that you get to meet some entertaining characters and wonder who will marry whom. A young war widow and her unmarried sister-in-law have moved into one of the Wiple Terrace cottages. They stir things up a bit, especially among some of the single men of our acquaintance, now "demobbed" and ready for love. Some of them, anyway.
January 30, 2014
I love all of the Angela Thirkell Barsetshire novels. Nothing really bad happens. People go about their lives, gently socializing, flirting, and sometimes falling in love and getting married. The fun part is figuring out who's going to marry who at the end of the book! If you're a Brit-o-phile, these are great fun.
July 23, 2011
Hardbound, 1948, dust jacket--1st ed, 2nd printing
How lovely to be back amongst friends--the Mertons, Deans, Brandons, et al!
How lovely to be back amongst friends--the Mertons, Deans, Brandons, et al!
September 4, 2012
What a great book! You have to put your tongue firmly in your cheek to read it. But it was terrific!
June 29, 2023
'Private Enterprise' describes in detail conditions after the war, particularly for upper-class families used to a very comfortable prewar lifestyle with plenty of help. The stark reality now is that they have become irrelevant, impoverished, in many cases bereaved (the lead lady here is the widow of a philandering army officer), and mostly unemployed, since the Armed Services no longer need the strength, and volunteer services have wound up. Big country houses have been derequisitioned, but no one can afford to live in them any longer, while small houses are rarely on the market, so great is the demand for them. Even the weather remains a sullen grey throughout, though it is midsummer.
Since so many of the characters are friendly faces from earlier books in the series, six years of war and privation - and time - have taken their toll even on the ageless, timeless Mrs Brandon. Most of all, a kind of enforced democracy introduces a host of men and women who may not have attended 'the right schools,' but who are likeable, hardworking, shrewd and frequently gifted with a sense of humour. Still, the Old Guard - the former ruling class - find it hard to accept them, and mourn the loss of Empire and the good old times.
In 'Private Enterprise', the delightfully love-sick Colin Keith pants over a beautiful widow, but Noel Merton, married to Colin's sister, has a wild flirtation with the same widow, deeply hurting his wife (and us). PE must be the first Thirkell book where the romance is a bit sour. As if to make up for this, two other couples are made happy. Additionally, the Headmaster of Southbridge School retires after a long and successful innings, and Everard Carter takes over as the new Head.
In spite of these dark shadows, the book has all of Thirkell's wit, satire and compassion for all her characters, even for objectionable refugees. It is longer than some of the others, with a huge cast list, but well worth the read, although what often puzzles me is where Thirkell fits in: cast in the same mould as Barbara Pym and E.M. Delafield, her books occasionally ring with the cynicism one finds now and then in Elizabeth von Arnim, while at other times she displays the gentle kindliness of 'Miss Read' (Dora Jessie Saint).
Since so many of the characters are friendly faces from earlier books in the series, six years of war and privation - and time - have taken their toll even on the ageless, timeless Mrs Brandon. Most of all, a kind of enforced democracy introduces a host of men and women who may not have attended 'the right schools,' but who are likeable, hardworking, shrewd and frequently gifted with a sense of humour. Still, the Old Guard - the former ruling class - find it hard to accept them, and mourn the loss of Empire and the good old times.
In 'Private Enterprise', the delightfully love-sick Colin Keith pants over a beautiful widow, but Noel Merton, married to Colin's sister, has a wild flirtation with the same widow, deeply hurting his wife (and us). PE must be the first Thirkell book where the romance is a bit sour. As if to make up for this, two other couples are made happy. Additionally, the Headmaster of Southbridge School retires after a long and successful innings, and Everard Carter takes over as the new Head.
In spite of these dark shadows, the book has all of Thirkell's wit, satire and compassion for all her characters, even for objectionable refugees. It is longer than some of the others, with a huge cast list, but well worth the read, although what often puzzles me is where Thirkell fits in: cast in the same mould as Barbara Pym and E.M. Delafield, her books occasionally ring with the cynicism one finds now and then in Elizabeth von Arnim, while at other times she displays the gentle kindliness of 'Miss Read' (Dora Jessie Saint).
November 16, 2021
Oh dear. I was looking forward to reading this novel, partly as research for the novel I'm writing, which is set in the same immediate post-war period, and partly because I usually enjoy mid-20th Century fiction and had heard great things of Angela Thirkle. There is even, I believe, an Anglea Thirkle society. Unfortunately this book made me feel I was suffering a serious sense-of-humour failure. It's a sort of romantic romp, a human and domestic comedy, set in Thirkle's fictitious county of Barchester, which is full of amusingly named places like Winter Overcotes and Eiderdown. It's very much about the county set, and servants with names like Chives, the gardener, are treated as figures of fun. Of course it is a product of its time, but still there's a brittle level of snobbery and an assumption of superiority that isn't present in all fiction of the time, and which I found hard to stomach. But apart from that the novel is very slow, full of overly long conversations and tediously set up gatherings and the plot, with its romantic twists and turns is overly signposted, so that there's no real surprise about who marries who in the end. That said, I did enjoy the final couple of chapters where the ends are tied up so utterly securely!
September 17, 2022
Thank you to the New York Society Library for this hard-to-find postwar Thirkell. **Spoiler alert. If you don’t know and do not want to know who Lydia Keith married: stop reading now.**
In Private Enterprise, a favorite character, the former Lydia Keith, is a major focus, as residents of Barsetshire cope with the shortages, rationing, and endless queues of the immediate postwar period.
We also again meet Lydia’s brother Colin Keith, protagonist of the very enjoyable Summer Half. Besotted in a sulky way with a woman who may or may not be interested, unfortunately he is almost unrecognizable here and serves a mostly a one-dimensional role that greatly annoys the other characters (and sometimes the reader as well).
Lydia and the other characters, like most British people at the time, struggled with not enough food, not enough help, and the grueling aspects of daily life that were actually worse in the early post-war years than during the war. Lydia, understandably exhausted, is herself almost unrecognizable, while her husband, Noel Merton, behaves somewhat badly in this installment. Both of the characters also illustrate the difficulty of an author sustaining a couple’s story after the proposal, and I found myself missing the Lydia and Noel of old.
While the engaging last third of the book sees Thirkell writing and pacing quite well, her long rants about the Labour government do get tiring. Her unhappiness about the post-war class leveling — and outrage that the “undeserving” classes are now in charge — wasn’t always necessary for the plot and took up big swaths of text.
I’ve already begin the next book in the series, Love among the Ruins, where either Thirkell’s writing has recovered from the awfulness of the peace, or my tolerance for the grouchy bits has grown. As for Private Enterprise, I would recommend it mostly for those wanting to read the complete series .
In Private Enterprise, a favorite character, the former Lydia Keith, is a major focus, as residents of Barsetshire cope with the shortages, rationing, and endless queues of the immediate postwar period.
We also again meet Lydia’s brother Colin Keith, protagonist of the very enjoyable Summer Half. Besotted in a sulky way with a woman who may or may not be interested, unfortunately he is almost unrecognizable here and serves a mostly a one-dimensional role that greatly annoys the other characters (and sometimes the reader as well).
Lydia and the other characters, like most British people at the time, struggled with not enough food, not enough help, and the grueling aspects of daily life that were actually worse in the early post-war years than during the war. Lydia, understandably exhausted, is herself almost unrecognizable, while her husband, Noel Merton, behaves somewhat badly in this installment. Both of the characters also illustrate the difficulty of an author sustaining a couple’s story after the proposal, and I found myself missing the Lydia and Noel of old.
While the engaging last third of the book sees Thirkell writing and pacing quite well, her long rants about the Labour government do get tiring. Her unhappiness about the post-war class leveling — and outrage that the “undeserving” classes are now in charge — wasn’t always necessary for the plot and took up big swaths of text.
I’ve already begin the next book in the series, Love among the Ruins, where either Thirkell’s writing has recovered from the awfulness of the peace, or my tolerance for the grouchy bits has grown. As for Private Enterprise, I would recommend it mostly for those wanting to read the complete series .
December 5, 2021
Barsetshire in peacetime, struggling through a non-existent summer, continued rationing, and a Labour government which of course Thirkell and her characters all hate.
"What I really mind is their trying to burst up the EMPIRE," said Lydia, whose deep if undigested patriotism made her use words which her more sophisticated friens were too self-conscious to tolerate. "I mean like leaving Egypt and trying to give India to the natives. ..."
Of course, it never occurred to Thirkell or her characters that it could be the case that the "natives" had rather more right to their country than did Great Britain.
However, there is much to entertain in this book, particularly for me the passages on birds and bird-watching, with some very funny invented birds whose nesting habits are the subject of serious and sometimes heated discussion. Assorted people are paired up with the right partner after some teasing of the reader over who will end up with whom.
"What I really mind is their trying to burst up the EMPIRE," said Lydia, whose deep if undigested patriotism made her use words which her more sophisticated friens were too self-conscious to tolerate. "I mean like leaving Egypt and trying to give India to the natives. ..."
Of course, it never occurred to Thirkell or her characters that it could be the case that the "natives" had rather more right to their country than did Great Britain.
However, there is much to entertain in this book, particularly for me the passages on birds and bird-watching, with some very funny invented birds whose nesting habits are the subject of serious and sometimes heated discussion. Assorted people are paired up with the right partner after some teasing of the reader over who will end up with whom.
April 26, 2022
I usually like the Barsetshire novels by Angela Thirkell, and take the occasional jingoism, sexism and elitism in stride. I have usually experienced her books as being about pluck, about quiet courage, about being lady-like and gentleman-like in difficult circumstances. But this particular tome irritated me. That may be because it is set shortly after the end of WWII, and the mood in Barsetshire is one of exhaustion and disappointment. Churchill has been voted out of office, rationing and shortages make daily life a never-ending strife, and civilization in general is on its way down.
On top of that, the two men in Lydia Merton's life, her brother Colin and her husband Noel, start to behave very foolishly when a pretty young widow and her sister-in-law come to live near them.
All in all, I did not find in this book the escapism I look for in this series.
On top of that, the two men in Lydia Merton's life, her brother Colin and her husband Noel, start to behave very foolishly when a pretty young widow and her sister-in-law come to live near them.
All in all, I did not find in this book the escapism I look for in this series.
December 10, 2024
This is either a light hearted satire on Trollope - it is set in Barsetshire, and one character is clerical - or maybe a tribute. Dunno. It was WAY too long, and I happen to be a regular reader of Trollope. If you don't know about Victoriana, they were largely first released in serial format in magazines. So they can be overly long, for many readers. But Thirkell outdoes the Victorian authors.
It's a pleasant domestic novel, essentially involving two romances. Some of the characters are mildly engaging.
But in general I found it tedious.
Thirkell must have been popular - I believe there are a dozen or more of these books. Presumably all set either in or after WW2. This one is set is 1946.
over to you gentle reader.
It's a pleasant domestic novel, essentially involving two romances. Some of the characters are mildly engaging.
But in general I found it tedious.
Thirkell must have been popular - I believe there are a dozen or more of these books. Presumably all set either in or after WW2. This one is set is 1946.
over to you gentle reader.
June 7, 2019
I think this is the first Angela Thirkell I read completely, and I really enjoyed it. I didn't know before this her connection with Trollope and that this was wildly out of order, but I look forward to going back and reading them in order.
There are a lot of names to get lost in during extended dinner party scenes, and Thirkell sounds a bit snobbish to modern ears, but she captures thoughts and feelings of parts of English society in the first year after the war when the book was written and set, so it feels like a valuable bit of insight into the thoughts and opinions of a group of people in a particular time.
There are a lot of names to get lost in during extended dinner party scenes, and Thirkell sounds a bit snobbish to modern ears, but she captures thoughts and feelings of parts of English society in the first year after the war when the book was written and set, so it feels like a valuable bit of insight into the thoughts and opinions of a group of people in a particular time.
December 6, 2018
Continuing the Barsetshire series, this lightly romantic novel takes place shortly after the end of WWII, with the county residents still trying to adapt. Peggy Arbuthnot, a young widow, and her sister-in-law Effie, move to Southbridge and together create quite a stir among the eligible men and the match-makers.
As is usual with Thirkell, this is a witty and often snarky book, poking gentle fun at her characters, but writing them well. It has a satisfying ending, and despite a few almost shocking dated comments, is a pleasure to read--all 463 pages.
As is usual with Thirkell, this is a witty and often snarky book, poking gentle fun at her characters, but writing them well. It has a satisfying ending, and despite a few almost shocking dated comments, is a pleasure to read--all 463 pages.
July 7, 2024
Well I just love Angela Thirkell. She is a bit dated sometimes but her social comedies with heart just make me happy! Lovely and intelligent with wonderful characters. This is in the middle of her novels (she wrote 27 or so) so it is always a delight to meet new characters and revisit characters from earlier works!
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