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Ankle Deep
Fanny Turner is a crafty woman who "would have felt sentiment of an infuriated kind" if her family duties had ever interfered with her frenetic social life. One weekend she invites Valentine Ensor, a divorced school friend of her husband Arthur, for a weekend, along with an older couple, the Howards, who bring along their daughter, the somewhat dour Aurea Palgrave. Aurea is now married and living quite unhappily in Canada, but Arthur had once been in love with her. The weekend is a somewhat predictable time of star-crossed love and slight misunderstandings that lead nowhere. Fanny is quite forward, and although she is married claims that one should always carry on with several men at once because "If you only care for one you'll always get hurt". With characteristic civility and sophistication, the author welcomes us into her fictional stretch of English countryside, a magical landscape spirited with good people going about the business of life, irresistibly entertaining in their determination to misunderstand each other. ‘Charming, very funny indeed. Angela Thirkell is perhaps the most Pym-like of any twentieth-century author, after Pym herself’ - Alexander McCall Smith ‘With touches of Nancy Mitford, Barbara Pym and PG Wodehouse, Angela Thirkell's sparkling prose recounts misunderstandings and mishaps in a particularly English way.’ - Spectator ‘You read her, laughing, and want to do your best to protect her characters from any reality but their own.’ - New York Times Angela Thirkell (1890-1961) wrote many works of fiction and non-fiction, including twenty-nine Barsetshire novels, which won her great popularity and acclaim. The first of these, High Rising , was published in 1933. Her relatives included Edward Burne-Jones, Rudyard Kipling and Stanley Baldwin, and her godfather was J M Barrie. She was twice married and had four children.
200 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1933
54 people are currently reading
126 people want to read
About the author
Angela Thirkell
62 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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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
July 8, 2017
I enjoyed Angela Thirkell's second novel so much (High Rising), that I went back and read this, her first novel. It wasn't nearly as engaging. It revealed glimpses of her comic genius but for the most part, the heroine was simply annoying. The good news is that I went on to read Thirkell's third novel, Wild Strawberries, and it was five-star wonderful. So I suggest if you haven't read her yet, just skip this one and go on to another.
September 29, 2015
Angela Thirkell writes with sparkle and wit.
Fanny Turner so loves to try and match make with cross purposes.
She invites Valentine Esnor an eligible bachelor to a house party.
The other guests are friends and one with a married daughter in tow.
Romantic mishaps all told with Thirkell's stylish prose and observant eye.
It made me chuckle!
There is no stopping after one tough.
Luckily she wrote lots of books.
This is a stand alone but her Barsetshire series is excellent.
Highly recommended
Fanny Turner so loves to try and match make with cross purposes.
She invites Valentine Esnor an eligible bachelor to a house party.
The other guests are friends and one with a married daughter in tow.
Romantic mishaps all told with Thirkell's stylish prose and observant eye.
It made me chuckle!
There is no stopping after one tough.
Luckily she wrote lots of books.
This is a stand alone but her Barsetshire series is excellent.
Highly recommended
June 13, 2009
Very differently from most Angela Thirkells, ANKLE DEEP focuses with hothouse intensity on only one plot line. An unhappy wife falls in love with a man who loves women, emphasis on the plural. Every character in the novel looks likeable at first, but as the author peels away their conventions, they look more and more real, and finally leave a bad taste in the mouth. This book was written in 1933 with penetrating understanding and no sympathy. As I started by saying, ANKLE DEEP is very different from most of Thirkell's books.
June 7, 2022
I am a fan of Angela Thirkell. I have read, and enjoyed, all of her Barsetshire novels up to and including #15: Peace Breaks Out (1946). The remaining 14 novels are not available for Kindle, and prohibitively expensive in printed format, so I tried this one. I regret doing so. There is so very little of Ms Thirkell's charm and wit here as to be negligible.
This is the story of a middle-aged married woman, Aurea, who leaves her husband and partly grown children at home in Canada and travels to England to visit her parents for a few weeks; and falls in love, as she supposes, with a recently divorced man, Valentine; one of her own "set". But instead of getting any enjoyment out of this storm of passion she bottles it up and only lets it spout out in florid speech – to herself, to her pretend lover, even to her mother, but not to any of her friends or her husband. She has no intention of leaving her spouse or giving in to her passion, but every intention, apparently, of wallowing in emotion.
This was published in 1933 the same year as High Rising and a year before Wild Strawberries both of which are vastly superior, well-plotted, funny, with memorable characters who make foolish mistakes but who are not complete asses.
Here are all of the witty passages in this book.
"On the whole, life was not unkind to him, especially as he was one of the happy people to whom debt is a natural condition."
"He and Arthur were at school together, so they sit and don’t talk, and that brightens our evenings wonderfully.”
"If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a hundred times, that your drive wants widening. No Christian car can turn in it, let alone a Ford.”
"Here and there were a few elderly men whose dusty shoulders and crumb-sprinkled waistcoats proclaimed them to be scholars."
"...after lunch we might go to the exhibition of Obscure and Justly Neglected Copyists of the Early Eighteenth Century in Old Burlington Street. I hear it has points of interest.”
"Reading aloud has occasioned more displays of temper than perhaps any other diversion, except croquet..."
And here are a few witless passages...
Ned, Aurea's husband:
"His kindness was so undiscriminating that it was almost self-indulgence, and was always letting Aurea in for meeting people and doing things which were distasteful."
Aurea is not that much into "sex"?
"Aurea shut her eyes quickly and tightly, trying to escape remembrances of the many times when adoration had taken the one hated shape, of her own efforts to stave off the adoration, of the humiliating scene that always followed, of Ned whimpering, actually whimpering because she was not what he called “kind”, of the utter contempt with which she finally gave in."
Aurea:
“...It is something to know that I love Valentine more than he does me, and I think I would prefer it so. The giving is all...
...I was brought up very repressed and Victorian myself, only I never got loose, so I have to face a post-war world with a pre-war mind...
...It is so mortifying,” she added plaintively, “to see other people of one’s own age doing cocktails and free love and self-expression, and to be quite incapable of it oneself, however much one might wish it...
...What kind of love is it, she had tormented herself by asking again and again, that consumes one’s whole being and yet fears a touch?...
...it’s not that I want to live in sin with you, because the very idea makes me perfectly sick..."
Valentine:
"The most he could hope was that he had behaved as much like a gentleman as was possible under the circumstances."
The book ends with a whimper and the reader envisions Aurea suffering mutely for years and poisoning the ambience throughout the whole of Canada. This is a book on "how not to live your life".
This is the story of a middle-aged married woman, Aurea, who leaves her husband and partly grown children at home in Canada and travels to England to visit her parents for a few weeks; and falls in love, as she supposes, with a recently divorced man, Valentine; one of her own "set". But instead of getting any enjoyment out of this storm of passion she bottles it up and only lets it spout out in florid speech – to herself, to her pretend lover, even to her mother, but not to any of her friends or her husband. She has no intention of leaving her spouse or giving in to her passion, but every intention, apparently, of wallowing in emotion.
This was published in 1933 the same year as High Rising and a year before Wild Strawberries both of which are vastly superior, well-plotted, funny, with memorable characters who make foolish mistakes but who are not complete asses.
Here are all of the witty passages in this book.
"On the whole, life was not unkind to him, especially as he was one of the happy people to whom debt is a natural condition."
"He and Arthur were at school together, so they sit and don’t talk, and that brightens our evenings wonderfully.”
"If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a hundred times, that your drive wants widening. No Christian car can turn in it, let alone a Ford.”
"Here and there were a few elderly men whose dusty shoulders and crumb-sprinkled waistcoats proclaimed them to be scholars."
"...after lunch we might go to the exhibition of Obscure and Justly Neglected Copyists of the Early Eighteenth Century in Old Burlington Street. I hear it has points of interest.”
"Reading aloud has occasioned more displays of temper than perhaps any other diversion, except croquet..."
And here are a few witless passages...
Ned, Aurea's husband:
"His kindness was so undiscriminating that it was almost self-indulgence, and was always letting Aurea in for meeting people and doing things which were distasteful."
Aurea is not that much into "sex"?
"Aurea shut her eyes quickly and tightly, trying to escape remembrances of the many times when adoration had taken the one hated shape, of her own efforts to stave off the adoration, of the humiliating scene that always followed, of Ned whimpering, actually whimpering because she was not what he called “kind”, of the utter contempt with which she finally gave in."
Aurea:
“...It is something to know that I love Valentine more than he does me, and I think I would prefer it so. The giving is all...
...I was brought up very repressed and Victorian myself, only I never got loose, so I have to face a post-war world with a pre-war mind...
...It is so mortifying,” she added plaintively, “to see other people of one’s own age doing cocktails and free love and self-expression, and to be quite incapable of it oneself, however much one might wish it...
...What kind of love is it, she had tormented herself by asking again and again, that consumes one’s whole being and yet fears a touch?...
...it’s not that I want to live in sin with you, because the very idea makes me perfectly sick..."
Valentine:
"The most he could hope was that he had behaved as much like a gentleman as was possible under the circumstances."
The book ends with a whimper and the reader envisions Aurea suffering mutely for years and poisoning the ambience throughout the whole of Canada. This is a book on "how not to live your life".
August 30, 2020
It is a curious experience to start a book expecting it to be a light-hearted comedy, and find that in fact it is about the miseries of a love between an unhappily married woman and a divorced man. It is said to be semi-autobiographical, and much of it does ring true.
Even allowing for the attitudes of the time in which it was written, I did find it startling that a woman in her thirties would think to herself about her husband that "one needed a master", and another woman several years younger would think her husband might someday "give her the beating she so richly deserved".
When meeting the central character (whom we must presume to be standing for Thirkell herself) when she was aged about 20, an older woman had thought that "... life would go hard with the child unless she married a man who could worship her and govern her at the same time." Crikey!
There are flashes of Thirkell's wit here and there. The best one for me was a reference to "an exhibition of Obscure and Justly Neglected Copyists of the Early Eighteenth Century ... I hear it has points of interest." People must have been queuing up to get in!
Somehow, Thirkell managed to pull herself together after getting this book out of her system, and went on to write the sparkling "High Rising", with a very different version of herself in the author Laura Morland.
2 stars.
Even allowing for the attitudes of the time in which it was written, I did find it startling that a woman in her thirties would think to herself about her husband that "one needed a master", and another woman several years younger would think her husband might someday "give her the beating she so richly deserved".
When meeting the central character (whom we must presume to be standing for Thirkell herself) when she was aged about 20, an older woman had thought that "... life would go hard with the child unless she married a man who could worship her and govern her at the same time." Crikey!
There are flashes of Thirkell's wit here and there. The best one for me was a reference to "an exhibition of Obscure and Justly Neglected Copyists of the Early Eighteenth Century ... I hear it has points of interest." People must have been queuing up to get in!
Somehow, Thirkell managed to pull herself together after getting this book out of her system, and went on to write the sparkling "High Rising", with a very different version of herself in the author Laura Morland.
2 stars.
January 15, 2018
I hadn't heard of Angela Thirkell, but an English friend put her in the same category as D.E. Stevenson, Miss Read, etc. So I gave her a try.
I couldn't find anything entertaining, interesting, or pleasant about Fanny Turner on the first twenty pages.
I am willing to try one of Thirkell's book set in Barsetshire, but my love for Trollope keeps me skeptical.
I couldn't find anything entertaining, interesting, or pleasant about Fanny Turner on the first twenty pages.
I am willing to try one of Thirkell's book set in Barsetshire, but my love for Trollope keeps me skeptical.
May 22, 2020
Angela Thirkell's greatest talent in my opinion is creating unforgettable and realistic characters and plots. I don't like books that make me roll my eyes and say " that would never happen n real life! " But even though I'm still thinking fondly of Arthur, Fanny, Aurea, and the Howard's, this was just not as enjoyable for me as Thirkell's Barsetshire series.
April 10, 2012
This was my first Angela Thirkell book and I was really looking forward to it. Ankle Deep, written in 1933, is one of her first books, semi-autobiographical and not part of the series set in Trollope's mythical county of Barsetshire. I did not really care for this book. I could not endear myself to one single character. In fact I fairly disliked most of them. Aurea was probably the most likable (and I would presume the character based on Angela herself). There was much humor in the book which I did enjoy and so I will give her one more go, I'll try the Barsetshire books. I have August Folly on my bookshelf.
From the back of the book: 'With characteristic civility and sophistication, the author welcomes us into her fictional stretch of English countryside, a magical landscape spirited with good people going about the business of life, irresistibly entertaining in their determination to misunderstand each other. In this case, the charming round of infatuations, endearments, and delightfully comic cross-purposes is set spinning by Fanny Turner, whose favorite pastime is endeavoring to provide "a succession of possible brides" for her husband's former schoolfriend, the charming, if not especially eligible. Valentine Ensor. Fanny's exuberant, misguided attempts at matchmaking produce a dizzying tangle of romantic mishaps when holiday guests show up with an attractive and very married daughter in tow. Thirkell's stylish prose and generous, yet acutely observant comedy offers a feast of reading that is cultivated, nourishing, refreshing, and restorative.'
Thirkell comes from a line of famous people, Grandfather was pre- raphaelite painter Sir Edward Burne-Jones, brother Denis Mackail was a novelist ('Greenery Street' has been re-published by Persephone Books), first cousins with Rudyard Kipling and Stanley Baldwin-Prime Minister, and her god-father was J.M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan.
From the back of the book: 'With characteristic civility and sophistication, the author welcomes us into her fictional stretch of English countryside, a magical landscape spirited with good people going about the business of life, irresistibly entertaining in their determination to misunderstand each other. In this case, the charming round of infatuations, endearments, and delightfully comic cross-purposes is set spinning by Fanny Turner, whose favorite pastime is endeavoring to provide "a succession of possible brides" for her husband's former schoolfriend, the charming, if not especially eligible. Valentine Ensor. Fanny's exuberant, misguided attempts at matchmaking produce a dizzying tangle of romantic mishaps when holiday guests show up with an attractive and very married daughter in tow. Thirkell's stylish prose and generous, yet acutely observant comedy offers a feast of reading that is cultivated, nourishing, refreshing, and restorative.'
Thirkell comes from a line of famous people, Grandfather was pre- raphaelite painter Sir Edward Burne-Jones, brother Denis Mackail was a novelist ('Greenery Street' has been re-published by Persephone Books), first cousins with Rudyard Kipling and Stanley Baldwin-Prime Minister, and her god-father was J.M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan.
May 8, 2011
The opening paragraphs of Ankle Deep suggest that it is a typical example of a particular genre. The author lets the reader continue under that misapprehension for a short while then inexorably bends the story in one place and straightens it in another and discloses a few cards hidden up the narrator’s sleeve. By the last page the reader has been taken to both expected and unexpected places and has been finally set down not far from the point where they were originally swept up – in the process having experienced a ride on that strangest of beasts, the existential comedy of manners.
This early Thirkell novel, published in the same year as her first Barsetshire novel, is written with a surety of authorial voice that allows the reader for relax and enjoy this glimpse of a way of life that zie knows will only too soon come to an end. The particular problems that face the characters are both similar to and very different from those which face families today. While some of the particular problems Thirkell's characters encounter (for example, the public shame that accompanied divorce) reflect a much different world than our own other problems (especially those rooted in the personalities of the characters) remain with us today.
Although this is not one of the better remembered Thirkells it was an enjoyable read, a worthwhile reread and a spur to find and read more of the author's work.
This early Thirkell novel, published in the same year as her first Barsetshire novel, is written with a surety of authorial voice that allows the reader for relax and enjoy this glimpse of a way of life that zie knows will only too soon come to an end. The particular problems that face the characters are both similar to and very different from those which face families today. While some of the particular problems Thirkell's characters encounter (for example, the public shame that accompanied divorce) reflect a much different world than our own other problems (especially those rooted in the personalities of the characters) remain with us today.
Although this is not one of the better remembered Thirkells it was an enjoyable read, a worthwhile reread and a spur to find and read more of the author's work.
June 8, 2015
British society and manners are front and center in this humorous tale of family and friendships set in the English countryside. Flirting is an acceptable past-time for married members of Fanny Turner's social circle, but when inexperienced Aurea Palgrave pays an extended visit to her parents, will the unhappily married woman successfully navigate the nearness of an old flame and a potential new love interest? Misunderstandings and faux pas abound.
June 18, 2014
An early AT--NOT Barchester. Aurea, living in Canada, is at home in England (briefly), where she meets friend Fanny, her husband Arthur, and Valentine.
I love this one--very different from the Barchester books. It was published in 1933, so early in her career. It may well reflect Angela's own feelings at the time.
I love this one--very different from the Barchester books. It was published in 1933, so early in her career. It may well reflect Angela's own feelings at the time.
November 30, 2012
I was disappointed in this third book I have read by Angela Thirkell. A tedious account of two people in love, one of whom is unhappily married and their friends, another married couple, and everyone behaves rather stupidly and even though the two in-love people did not technically violate the proprieties and vows of marriage, they might just as well have, it would have been more interesting.
January 4, 2014
Hmmm..an early work where her brilliant skill and profound wit are already present. Not exactly as cheerful as her later work, but then the subject matter (falling in love outside if one's marriage ) is not at all cheerful.
January 22, 2015
I love Angela Thirkell but I didn't really like this early effort. Sexual frustration and senseless infatuation on every page. It reminded me more of Barbara Pym than vintage Angela Thirkell.
June 19, 2015
Ugh. The characters were unsympathetic, the love story boring, and the gentle comedy that I usually expect from Thirkell completely missing. Very disappointing.
November 8, 2023
A love story turned sour. Many loves turned sour. A witch stirring the brew. The action moves forward (or it doesn't) as in a stage play, mainly through conversation, monologues, soul searching, introspection and analyses to be really dramatic, although the plot is an intriguing one.
An unhappily married woman and a happily divorced man-of- the-world begin an affair that is frustrating for the reader as it is unfulfilled for themselves. For they think they are actually infatuated. Had the woman been younger or the man a little older, they might have had some fun. But they are both forty, and infatuation is a bad disease to catch at that age, especially when it is mistaken for love.
Its redeeming feature is that the author is known for her light touch and wit. Here there is less wit, but the bite makes up for it.
An unhappily married woman and a happily divorced man-of- the-world begin an affair that is frustrating for the reader as it is unfulfilled for themselves. For they think they are actually infatuated. Had the woman been younger or the man a little older, they might have had some fun. But they are both forty, and infatuation is a bad disease to catch at that age, especially when it is mistaken for love.
Its redeeming feature is that the author is known for her light touch and wit. Here there is less wit, but the bite makes up for it.
December 19, 2021
Thirkell at her worst
This a long and impenetrable story of thwarted love, disappointment and frustration bound up in the confusing morals and mores of early 20th century England. None of the characters are sympathetic, some are cruel, some are stupid and some are just shallow and boring. Having enjoyed most of Thirkell's novels I was disappointed in this one and glad I got it on Kindle Unlimited and didn't pay anything for it.
This a long and impenetrable story of thwarted love, disappointment and frustration bound up in the confusing morals and mores of early 20th century England. None of the characters are sympathetic, some are cruel, some are stupid and some are just shallow and boring. Having enjoyed most of Thirkell's novels I was disappointed in this one and glad I got it on Kindle Unlimited and didn't pay anything for it.
June 5, 2019
This book was advertised as acomedy of manners similar to Wodehouse. First published in 1933, Well, it's not nearly as funny as Wodehouse, but it IS a nice comedy of errors, teenage angst for the repressed 30-something of the 1930's! Witty, some chuckles. Enjoyed it, but didn't love it. I understand her later works are better, though - so I will keep an eye out. 3 stars.
April 7, 2025
I really enjoy Angela Thirkell's style of writing, but I did not enjoy this book as much as I thought I would. The characters were thoroughly unlikable and the plot was actually absurd. I only finished it because I like her style of writing and I wanted to see how it all got "tied up" at the end (and I can't say that it was very satisfying)
April 28, 2020
Sadly, I plodded my way through this wanting to slap all the main characters. This book seemed about 200 pages too long and for me it was a struggle to finish. I must read other Angela Thirkells as am sure I would enjoy them...but this....OMG NOOOOO
January 19, 2021
Not part of her 'Barsetshire' sequence: feel that if it had been, the situation developed at perhaps excessive angsty length would have been one among several intertwining subplots. She certainly had several of her recurrent types already in play.
January 31, 2021
AT has her weaknesses, but even her weakest Barsetshire novel is 100 times better than this. A character study of two annoying and unsympathetic people, with a supporting cast of other mostly annoying and unsympathetic people.
abandoned
August 3, 2024Not for me (at the moment, perhaps. I might try again).
July 3, 2019
Just read the first few chapters
Written in the dull-to-read style of miles of narrative, with tiny bits of conversation thrown in only occasionally, it left me bored.
The intro made it sound like it would be great fun, and maybe it is.
But, getting into the ‘funny’ parts took more effort than I am willing to give.
I hope it turns out great, gets rave reviews, and I find I gave up much too soon. But, here we are.
Written in the dull-to-read style of miles of narrative, with tiny bits of conversation thrown in only occasionally, it left me bored.
The intro made it sound like it would be great fun, and maybe it is.
But, getting into the ‘funny’ parts took more effort than I am willing to give.
I hope it turns out great, gets rave reviews, and I find I gave up much too soon. But, here we are.
April 1, 2023
My first Angela Thirkell novel, and at first I wasn’t too sure but after I got acclimatised to the quite long, convoluted sentences, I found the characters very likeable. I enjoyed the glimpse into a more pleasant time, and the lives of the well off in the 1930s.
February 12, 2018
Lacks the wit and sparkle of her Barcetshire novels. Aurea is also deeply annoying.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews