Northbridge Rectory (Virago Modern Classics Book 373)

Northbridge is coping as best it can with the trials and tribulations of war time. Officers are billeted at the Rectory, the air raid siren only seems to go off when the planes have gone past, and love strikes in the most unlikely places. Miss Pemberton exercises control over her lodger, Mr Downing, though Mrs Turner looks as though she will make her move. Mrs Turner's nieces are looking for love among the officers at the Rectory as is one of the Rectory's servants.For those readers who read Cheerfulness Breaks In and want to know what happened after the cliff hanging ending to that novel will need to read nearly half of this book to find out! I enjoyed this book but I didn't think it was as good as others I've read by this author - maybe because I read it in very short bursts rather than reading it in longer sessions.I do think every day life in war time is well done and it really brings the problems to life and makes me realise how lucky we are in the relatively peaceful twenty first century.

I have just discovered Angela Thirkell, and am devouring her books, one after the other. I started with High Rising, and was immediately drawn to the characters she portrays with such finesse and humour that they literally come to life; quite a few made me laugh out loud. Looking in from the outside at the lives of women who, although not rich, still have the sort of help in the home that most of us could only dream about, is a bit surreal, (not forgetting the importance of trimming hats, and hairstyles which necessitate lots of hairpins!) I actually found the books even more enjoyable in these dark days of Covid, when it is lovely to escape the present reality for a while! In fact I found myself rationing my reading to ensure that I could have my much needed daily treat. "Northbridge" was great fun, now I have almost reached the end of "Growing up", looking to "The Headmistress" next, may there be many more!

The book before this (Cheerfulness Breaks In) ends on a cliffhanger - Lydia Keith has married Noel Merton and their honeymoon is Noel's three day leave. Lydia asks him to ring or send her a telegram when he gets back to England. 'Of course it might be a telegram to say you were dead,' said Lydia, facing facts with her usual firmness. 'But I'd go on loving you just the same.' The telegram duly arrives and Philip Winter, heart beating furiously, with his anxiety offers to open it. Lydia replies that she ought to open her own telegrams and repeats that whatever it was she would love Noel just the same. So I was initially disappointed to when I started this book to find it was about a completely different set of people of whom I have never heard, but there is a mention, contained in a paragraph, about Lydia being Scotland with her husband so I know Noel Merton survived Dunkirk. This book gives, I feel, a real feel of what life during the second world war really was like. My own dearest mum and dad would never talk about their experiences so I had to look elsewhere. I just love Angela Thirkell's novels they are, even when she is describing the hardship of the war years, so humourus. I only wish I had discovered her many years ago, when her books were more readily available in shops and libraries. Perfect escapism!

I always enjoy Angela Thirkell's novels, and this was a new one for me. I found it very amusing - actually "laugh out loud" sometimes. As usual Ms Thirkell's world is a bit too cosy to be true, but what nice comfortable read this was. Just the thing to read on a gloomy winter day, especially after a surfeit of detective stories!

Probably one of Angela Thirkell's best in the Barsetshire series. Great interplay of well drawn characters, all doing their best to keep going during wartime. Lots of laugh out loud moments interspersed with poignant touches

Really enjoy Angela Thirkell a nice quiet read in what appears to be a gentler time even during WW 11.

Very amusing in parts but not one of her best

Lovely book, adding to my collection of Barsetshire novels by Thirkell