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Description
A widow goes house-hunting in Barsetshire in this witty, moving novel by an author of "graceful stories of upper-class English life" (The New York Times). One rainy summer, amid the social and cultural changes of postwar England, Mrs. Macfadyen wrestles with the loss of her beloved husband after just five years of happiness. Life has left her uprooted-but where can she replant herself? The hunt for a new house (preferably not too close to her mother's) will involve everyone from friends and show more neighbors to an old suitor and the local clergy, but ultimately the decision-and her future-is up to her . . . Recreating Anthony Trollope's fictional county and bringing it into the mid-twentieth century, Angela Thirkell tells a tale filled with heartache, humor, and sharp social observation. "It is in [Mrs. Macfadyen's] fitful remembrance, quiet loneliness and gentle acceptance, that one realizes her author's sense of the poetry in life, and her sympathetic ear for the nuances of pain." -The New York Times. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
More melancholy than the typical Barshetshire book from Thirkell, this 27th entry in the series returns to Margot Phelps Macfayden. However, we do learn almost in passing that Edith Graham has finally become engaged (and not to her cousin Ludo)...
More melancholy than the typical Barshetshire book from Thirkell, this 27th entry in the series returns to Margot Phelps Macfayden. However, we do learn almost in passing that Edith Graham has finally become engaged (and not to her cousin Ludo)...
A return to a previously featured character. It seems rather unlikely but Margot, apparently destined for downtrodden spinsterhood in a previous novel, is now a widow and will possibly marry again.
A little more melancholy in spots than earlier books, but still admirable
One major story line, not as confusing as many of these later novels were, a fun read.
English country town
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Author Information
47+ Works 8,517 Members
Series
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Close Quarters
- Original publication date
- 1958
- First words
- It is, or would be if one bothered to think about it, a well-known fact that there are far more surnames than Christian names.
- Quotations
- Mrs Belton, who did not enjoy standing about ... having (as we all have as we get older) a growing conviction that legs were made to be walked with if necessary and not to be stood upon ...
We are lucky enough to possess an 1875 edition of Cruden's Concordance with the front cover missing, even from Abase to Zuzims.
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, General Fiction, Historical Fiction
- DDC/MDS
- 823.912 — Literature & rhetoric English & Old English literatures English fiction 1900- 1901-1999 1901-1945
- LCC
- PZ3 .T3486 — Language and Literature Fiction and juvenile belles lettres Fiction and juvenile belles lettres Fiction in English
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 148
- Popularity
- 222,081
- Reviews
- 6
- Rating
- (3.79)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 4
- ASINs
- 4
