Angela Thirkell

"There is always in our minds the hope that we may find again those golden unhastening days and wake up and dream." - Angela ThirkellAngela Thirkell, the cousin of Rudyard Kipling and the granddaughter of celebrated Pre-Raphaelite painter Sir Edward Burne-Jones, was an eminent twentieth century literary figure, and wrote avidly until her death in 1961. In her beautifully nostalgic memoirs, she recalls in rich detail the three houses in which she grew up and the childhood memories their walls contain. Thirkells elaborate portraits of the three houses - The Grange in Fulham, 27 Young Street in Kensington Square, and North End House in Rottingdean - offer an invaluable insight into late Victorian life. Her recounting of forbidden explorations, Punch and Judy shows, and adventures in the garden are beautifully evocative of the innocent quality of childhood, and the personal recollections of her famous grandfather present a loving family man behind the renown. The exposure to music, art and literature that Thirkell details in her exploration of her beloved three houses foreshadows her later fictional creations - her Barsetshire novels.Three Houses allows us a snapshot of history from the busy literary centre of London to the English coast. Charmingly expressive, these stunning memoirs are both reminiscent of the golden days of youth and an interesting vision of a writer and the early influences that informed her later work.

Both wry and poignant, Peace Breaks Out was written in the tumultuous year that it was set. It is an unforgettable portrait of the joy and misgivings felt in the final days of the Second World War.

The first of Angela Thirkell''s brilliantly satirical English comedies set in the fictional county of Barsetshire, High Rising is now available as a Virago Modern Classic. Perfect for fans of Stella Gibbons, PG Wodehouse or EF Benson.Successful lady novelist Laura Morland and her boisterous young son Tony set off to spend Christmas at her country home in the sleepy surrounds of High Rising. But Laura''s wealthy friend and neighbour George Knox has taken on a scheming secretary whose designs on marriage to her employer threaten the delicate social fabric of the village. Can clever, practical Laura rescue George from Miss Grey''s clutches and, what''s more, help his daughter Miss Sibyl Knox to secure her longed-for engagement?Utterly charming and very funny, High Rising is irresistible comic entertainment.

It will not, we hope, surprise our readers to hear that Lady Cora Waring, formerly Lady Cora Palliser, only daughter of the Duke of Omnium, wife of Sir Cecil Waring of Beliers Priory, was expecting what used to be called an interesting event. Not that the event was very imminent, but her Ladyship was so puffed up about it that her husband accused her of being a baby-snob. To which she replied that everyone was a snob about something and why not about babies, and her husband said they really ought to ask the Brandons to dinner and the Marlings too, by which he did not mean Mr. and Mrs. Marling from Marling Hall, but Oliver Marling and the Honourable Mrs. Oliver Marling, who was Lord Luftons elder sister.Va pour les Marlings, said her Ladyship, but why the Brandons, darling? They havent asked us to dinner and I am all for etiquette. Brides expect to be asked, to which her husband replied contemptuously that she wasnt a bride now, she was a matron.

We have at times been accused of putting so many people into our books that no one can remember who they are, in which stricture we entirely concur, as we often cannot remember who they are ourself (or selves). We have often been urged to provide some sort of genealogical chart of Barsetshire families, and several kind and gifted young admirers have even gone so far as to make a rough table of affinities; but, to tell the truth and shame him that shall be nameless, we have allowed matters to get so far out of hand that it is now almost impossible to reconcile the various discrepancies of dates and ages. For this we have no excuse and shall therefore offer two: the first that we find we get just as muddled about generations and relationships in real life as we do in Barsetshire; the secondin the words of The Water Babiesthat it is all a fairy story and you must not believe a word of it even if it is true. Those who are at the grandmother stage will understand how completely addled one is apt to be by the generations.

Una divertidísima comedia de enredos que inaugura la monumental saga de Barsetshire.Laura Morland, una exitosa escritora de «buenos malos libros», se dispone a pasar unas semanas de feliz reposo en s

La atractiva Mary Preston, una joven perteneciente a una buena familia venida a menos, es invitada a la espléndida y lujosa finca de los Leslie en Rushwater. Allí, Mary perderá la cabeza por el apuesto seductor David Leslie. Sin embargo, su tia Agnes y la madre de David, la excentrica lady Emily, planean emparejarla con otro hombre al que consideran un buen partido. En el espectacular baile de Rushwater, la felicidad de Mary, suspendida entre los imperativos del corazon y las maquinaciones de su familia, pendera de un hiloFresas silvestres (1934) forma parte de un ciclo de veintinueve novelas ambientadas en el condado ficticio de Barbetshire, que Angela Thirkell tomo prestado de Anthony Trollope. Con una mirada afilada y permanentes alusiones y guiños a los clasicos, desde Lord Byron y R.L. Stevenson hasta Ovidio y Virgilio, Thirkell da vida a una galeria de personajes comicos que se debaten entre lo sublime y lo prosaico, sin abandonar jamas una muy britanica obsesion por el estatus social.

Laura Morland, una exitosa escritora de «buenos malos libros», se dispone a pasar unas semanas de feliz reposo en su casa de campo en el pueblecito de High Rising. Una vez allí, sin embargo, se ve en

La atractiva Mary Preston, una joven perteneciente a una buena familia venida a menos, es invitada a la espléndida y lujosa finca de los Leslie en Rushwater. Allí, Mary perderá la cabeza por el apuesto seductor David Leslie. Sin embargo, su tia Agnes y la madre de David, la excentrica Lady Emily, planean emparejarla con otro hombre al que consideran un buen partido. En el espectacular baile de Rushwater, la felicidad de Mary, suspendida entre los imperativos del corazon y las maquinaciones de su familia, pendera de un hiloFresas silvestres (1934) forma parte de un ciclo de veintinueve novelas ambientadas en el condado ficticio de Barsetshire, que Angela Thirkell tomo prestado de Anthony Trollope. Con una mirada afilada y permanentes alusiones y guiños a los clasicos, desde Lord Byron y R. L. Stevenson hasta Ovidio y Virgilio, Thirkell da vida a una galeria de personajes comicos que se debaten entre lo sublime y lo prosaico, sin abandonar jamas una muy britanica obsesion por el estatus social.