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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?Tags
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Jane Austen famously said that in writing Emma, she'd set out to create "a heroine whom no one but myself will much like." Reading High Rising was like reading a photo negative version of Emma: Angela Thirkell clearly thought she was writing a lovable, heart-of-gold scatterbrain main character in Laura Morland, but I found her absolutely insufferable. No matter how much the other characters insisted that Mrs Morland was lovely and just so kind, her thoughts and actions showed her to be a petty, mean-spirited, and insular snob—and the mouthpiece for some pretty appalling bigotry.
And before someone jumps at me for saying "But it was the 1930s! Standards for what was acceptable were different then!": that is true to an extent, but I can show more also honestly say that I've read lots of other fiction first published in the Twenties and Thirties that didn't have main characters regularly spout antisemitic, anti-Irish, and anti-Black sentiments with every sign of narrative approval. One of the comic relief/male romantic partners also at one point just randomly comes out with "The marriage customs [...] of the Arunta tribe, a revolting set of Australian aboriginals, are alone enough to justify their extirpation by rum, missionaries, or any other destroying element." Wow! Holy shit! Love a bit of cheerleading for genocide in what's supposed to be a light romantic comedy!
Not that the romance is much to write home about: dull and unconvincing and rote. Thirkell is not an author I care to read any further. show less
And before someone jumps at me for saying "But it was the 1930s! Standards for what was acceptable were different then!": that is true to an extent, but I can show more also honestly say that I've read lots of other fiction first published in the Twenties and Thirties that didn't have main characters regularly spout antisemitic, anti-Irish, and anti-Black sentiments with every sign of narrative approval. One of the comic relief/male romantic partners also at one point just randomly comes out with "The marriage customs [...] of the Arunta tribe, a revolting set of Australian aboriginals, are alone enough to justify their extirpation by rum, missionaries, or any other destroying element." Wow! Holy shit! Love a bit of cheerleading for genocide in what's supposed to be a light romantic comedy!
Not that the romance is much to write home about: dull and unconvincing and rote. Thirkell is not an author I care to read any further. show less
The author's marital flame-outs must lie behind the deeply anti-romantic subtext of this novel. The main character, a widow since her early thirties left with four sons to support, regularly expresses relief at her husband's demise, and fends off any idea of a replacement. That a similarly ungrieving widower contemplates remarriage is clearly an illustration of male inadequacy. The one apparently happy romance in the novel is undermined by the fact that the woman is a complete ditz and her apparently besotted husband-to-be previously proposes to the main character, apparently by way of apology for running them into the ditch in his car. The title of a later Thirkell novel ---O,These Men,These Men---pretty much sums it up. Many other show more apparently personal details distracted me: the constant reference to the main character's unruly hair, the presentation of the writer's trade as hack work or a self-indulgent hobby. Methinks the lady doth protest too much. Of course this was a first or second attempt; I do not recall being as put off in the few later Thirkell novels I've read. show less
Fun, fun, fun. A comfort read---characters who are real and believable, some of whom you'd like very much to have to tea, and others you'd hope never to need to engage with at all. A bit of romantic intrigue, an annoyingly talkative little boy, a woman making her way on her own and not at all sorry about it. A story line that is undemanding, and yet rewards you for following along. A lovely visit to a time and place we don't inhabit (England between the wars), and yet find familiar. Satire with a heart.
Review written in December 2012
Review written in December 2012
Perfection. I dearly love the schoolboys, and Stoker and Mr. Knox's Annie, and the whole lot of them. If feels very like Emma, if Emma were a 45-year-old widow and successful novelist, rather than a girl fresh out of the schoolroom. There's a lot of people proposing to the wrong people, and Mrs. Moreland is just brilliant, and I love her constant supply of new mysteries, and the annoyed way they speak to one another:
I anticipate that Barsetshire is going to be my neighborhood for a while.
Library copy
PS And I have in fact placed orders for the next five.
"Don't be an idiot, Laura," said Amy. "People don't ask for suit-cases to cut their throats into. But we had better go and see, all the same."
I anticipate that Barsetshire is going to be my neighborhood for a while.
Library copy
PS And I have in fact placed orders for the next five.
High Rising is a delightful novel. It’s the first of a 30-book series known as the Barsetshire chronicles. These books are social comedy, focussed on matrimony and generally lighthearted and humorous. High Rising’s witty style, its clearly developed and mostly sympathetic characters, its plot surprises, and gentle satire of the conventions of social comedy made it a pleasure to read.
The story is set in the early part of the 20th century in the fictitious rural county of Barset, where main character Laura Morland has a summer cottage in the village of High Rising. Laura is a successful “good bad writer” of mysteries, who is “happily widowed” with no wish to change her station. Laura lives with the youngest of her four sons, show more Tony, whose all consuming interest in trains and incessant talking make him obnoxious and boring to everyone but himself. He is a great source of humor in the novel. Another writer lives in the adjoining village of Low Rising. George Knox, also widowed, writes successful historical biographies. With George lives Sybil, his twenty-year old daughter, and lots of dogs, puppies, and horses, which Tony loves almost as much as trains. And also part of the Knox household is George’s brand new secretary, Una.
The plot is set in motion when George’s longtime secretary leaves to care for a sister in ill health, and George has to hire someone new. He selects Una Grey from a list of applicants, an attractive young woman very competent in all she sets out to do, be it typing, running the household, nursing the sick, or general management of everyone. It soon becomes clear to all except George that Una plans to marry him, and in general dismay, the servants, his daughter, and his closest friends, Laura among them, set out to prevent such an undesirable match.
Scenes and evolving relationships are developed carefully, characters are well established, and the novel moves at a good pace to its somewhat surprising conclusion. Thirkell’s writing is witty and clear, making for a well-crafted and satisfying story that I can recommend without reservation. show less
The story is set in the early part of the 20th century in the fictitious rural county of Barset, where main character Laura Morland has a summer cottage in the village of High Rising. Laura is a successful “good bad writer” of mysteries, who is “happily widowed” with no wish to change her station. Laura lives with the youngest of her four sons, show more Tony, whose all consuming interest in trains and incessant talking make him obnoxious and boring to everyone but himself. He is a great source of humor in the novel. Another writer lives in the adjoining village of Low Rising. George Knox, also widowed, writes successful historical biographies. With George lives Sybil, his twenty-year old daughter, and lots of dogs, puppies, and horses, which Tony loves almost as much as trains. And also part of the Knox household is George’s brand new secretary, Una.
The plot is set in motion when George’s longtime secretary leaves to care for a sister in ill health, and George has to hire someone new. He selects Una Grey from a list of applicants, an attractive young woman very competent in all she sets out to do, be it typing, running the household, nursing the sick, or general management of everyone. It soon becomes clear to all except George that Una plans to marry him, and in general dismay, the servants, his daughter, and his closest friends, Laura among them, set out to prevent such an undesirable match.
Scenes and evolving relationships are developed carefully, characters are well established, and the novel moves at a good pace to its somewhat surprising conclusion. Thirkell’s writing is witty and clear, making for a well-crafted and satisfying story that I can recommend without reservation. show less
This was very pleasant, but by no means a comic romp, unless your threshold for comedy is extremely low. The original Barchester Chronicles by Trollope are a laugh riot compared to this novel. I was hoping for something more in the vein of the Lucia series by Benson, or even something along the lines of a Pym, but this is different. It's a cup of tea late at night with a slight fire burning, and to be fair that's often just exactly what I want to read. (Still doesn't make it a 5-star book for me, though!)
It fell down by having the characters be not quite real to me, and not unreal in an interesting enough way to make it not matter (as in Dickens, say). The plot didn't exist, other than to say that some things happened and then other show more things happened--whereas I'm a sucker for books (shows, movies) where it seems like something particular ought to happen, and then it does, but in a surprising way that you didn't expect and which is better than you saw coming. When anything in particular can happen, there's no chance to be satisfied or surprised (or both). show less
It fell down by having the characters be not quite real to me, and not unreal in an interesting enough way to make it not matter (as in Dickens, say). The plot didn't exist, other than to say that some things happened and then other show more things happened--whereas I'm a sucker for books (shows, movies) where it seems like something particular ought to happen, and then it does, but in a surprising way that you didn't expect and which is better than you saw coming. When anything in particular can happen, there's no chance to be satisfied or surprised (or both). show less
After her husband’s death left her with four young boys to raise, Laura Morland discovered that she had a talent for writing good second-rate books about the world of fashion. Laura spends holidays and her son Tony’s school breaks at her home in High Rising, where her circle of friends and neighbors includes her secretary, Anne Todd, who lives with her chronically ill mother, widower and fellow author George Knox and his young adult daughter Sibyl, Dr. Ford, her maid Stoker and Mr. Knox’s maid Annie. Her publisher, Adrian Coates, and her dear friend Amy Birkett (wife of young Tony’s headmaster) are frequent guests. The tranquility of life in the Risings (High and Low) has been disturbed by the arrival of George Knox’s new show more secretary, Miss Grey. It’s obvious to all except George that Miss Grey is intent on marrying him. She is doing her best to drive a wedge between George and his friends, particularly the single women. Something must be done about this.
This is an entertaining story of village life between the wars in the first half of the twentieth century. It’s hard not to wonder how much Laura Morland resembles Thirkell herself, particularly in her attitudes toward literature and authorship. Laura’s offhand comments about Jews are disturbing given that this book was first published as Hitler rose to power in Germany. show less
This is an entertaining story of village life between the wars in the first half of the twentieth century. It’s hard not to wonder how much Laura Morland resembles Thirkell herself, particularly in her attitudes toward literature and authorship. Laura’s offhand comments about Jews are disturbing given that this book was first published as Hitler rose to power in Germany. show less
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- Canonical title
- High Rising
- Original publication date
- 1933
- People/Characters
- Laura Morland; Tony Morland; Amy Birkett; Sophia Knox; George Knox; Anne Todd (show all 8); Adrian Coates; Stoker
- Important places
- Barsetshire, England, UK; High Rising, Barsetshire, England, UK
- Dedication
- To my father and mother
- First words
- The headmaster's wife twisted herself round in her chair to talk to Mrs Morland, who was sitting in the row just behind her.
Angela Thirkell is today relatively unknown, by no means as familiar as Benson or Trollope, or even Nancy Mitford, writers with whom she is sometimes compared. (Introduction) - Quotations
- ‘It’s not highbrow. I’ve just got to work. You see, my husband was nothing but an expense to me while he was alive, and naturally he is no help to me now he’s dead, so I thought if I could write some rather good bad b... (show all)ooks, it would help with the boys’ education’.
`With our immense resources [said the publisher] we can give you double the advertisement you are at present having. If you have something new and delightful in preparation, and are not yet committed to Coates, may we have th... (show all)e pleasure of having a first sight of your manuscript?’
`Well, you see,’ said Laura, `what I say about advertising is, if you spend all that money on advertisements, it’s got to come off my royalties, hasn’t it?’
Oh the exhaustingness of the healthy young! Laura had once offered to edit a book called Why I Hate my Children, but though Adrian Coates had offered her every encouragement, and every mother of her acquaintance... (show all) had offered to contribute, it had never taken shape. (Chap. II: “High Rising”)
“And I know I'm a fool, and anyway I can't understand poetry except the bits in anthologies, but I couldn't understand yours at all.” (Chap. IV: “Christmas Eve”)
Indeed she had never known intimately that pale and shadowy lady, who enjoyed ill health until she went too far and let herself die. (Chap. VII: “An Author at Home”)
“Golly, what a play,” said Laura suddenly, alluding to the masterpiece of the Bard from which they had just fled, “but very unfair to daughters.” (Chap. XII: “The Shakespeare Tradition” [Laura Morland on ... (show all)King Lear])
Anyone who knew Laura well would have gathered from the state of her hair that she was sorely perplexed and tried. What with running pencils through it and absently sticking in pins which emotion had caused to fa... (show all)ll, she looked, by the time she had finished Sibyl's story, like Medusa on a heavy washing-day. (Chap. XIII: “Spring Interlude”) - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"I could have a lovely accident, Mother --"
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Angela Thirkell creates and peoples a world whose note can be heard today only in the tiniest of echoes, but in her books it comes through loud and clear, reminding us that the good comic novel can easily, and with grace, transcend the years that stand between us and the time of its creation. (Introduction) - Original language
- English UK
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