Wild Strawberries

This is my fourth experience reading Angela Thirkell's novels, which imagine Anthony Trollope's Barsetshire in the early 20th century, between the world wars. Wild Strawberries is the fourth in her Barsetshire series, and a wonderful romantic comedy. Mary Preston arrives for an extended visit with the Leslie family (aunt, uncle, and cousins), and finds herself the object of younger brother David's flirtations. Older brother John, a widower, looks on with quiet interest, and conflicted feelings about getting involved in a relationship himself. The crazy Leslie family surrounds them, including dotty aunt Emily and her daughter Agnes, who is forever preoccupied with her young children. There are also funny ancillary characters, like the show more pompous Mr. Holt, who comes to visit Emily's gardens, and the French family who rents the Vicarage for the summer.

As with Trollope's novels, the ending is often predictable, but the journey is usually not linear. I admit to cringing at one point, when David made up a horribly racist song. In these situations I try telling myself this novel is "of its time," and move swiftly on. With the exception of those few pages, Wild Strawberries made me smile and laugh several times, and was a very pleasant way to pass the time. show less

Re-read was enjoyable. Original review follows...


This was delightful.
*Possible spoilers? I don't know, I'll try not to give endings away, at least.*
It took me about two chapters to get into it. Evidently one of Angela Thirkell's trademarks is to throw A WHOLE BUNCH of characters at you and then hope that you get them all sorted out pretty quick. This may even be one of her easier ones, but it still took me a little while to settle everyone's role in my mind. The more you read, the easier it gets though, because everyone is quite well defined as a character.
So, this novel focuses on the Leslies, a well-to-do family with lots of characters. The mother cheerfully and lovingly rearranges any and all plans for those around her, however show more small, until they become an ineffective mess. Fortunately the servants and the family know to just "carry on" while letting her have her say. She's a lovable character. She and her husband had three sons and a daughter. Their oldest son was killed in war, so they are basically raising their teenage grandson. Their second son, John, is a remarkably kind and intelligent man in his mid-30's, whose wife died after just one year of marriage. Their youngest son, David, is a flirt and a man-about-town, with dozens of ideas for a brilliant career, none of which seem to ever pan out.
Agnes, their daughter, married with several small children of her own, somehow manages to be a bit simple-minded in conversation, yet fairly observant and able to occasionally rise to the situation and save the day.
The catalyst for change is when Agnes' niece by marriage, Mary Preston, comes to stay for the summer. She falls in love with David, the flirtatious son, but also strikes a sympathetic chord in the heart of John, who happens to be in the right time and place to provide a shoulder to lean on when she is going through a little crisis.
Most of the characters have their own story arc going on as the narrative drives forward to the climax, the 17th birthday party of the Leslie grandson.
I laughed quite a lot while reading. This book is extremely cleverly written, and there were times when I just had to pause in delighted surprise at some funny and unexpected moment. I also love how Thirkell gives her readers different shades of some of the characters. Mrs. Leslie could have been nothing but a caricature, with all her ridiculous plans and interference. But the author occasionally dwells on the way that she thinks about her son who was killed in war. Things like that make it hard to pigeonhole these characters with just one word. You have to end up saying, "They're this, but they're also that."
Thoroughly enjoyed it. show less

A very funny tale of mixed messages re marital intentions in the household of Lady Emily Leslie and co. It has a huge cast of all ages and classes, with a mad plan to resurrect the French Royal family somehow thrown into the mix.

Wild Strawberries by Angela Thirkell; 4 1/2 stars

Angela Thirkell really knew how to write comedic stories that left the reader wanting more. Wild Strawberries is the second in her Barsetshire series & is as delightful as High Rising, the first.
Evidently one of Angela Thirkell's trademarks was to throw a lot of the characters at you and hope that you get them all sorted out quickly. I have no problem with that. I find it to be rather entertaining. I find all of her characters to be quite well defined & thus no confusion.
This novel is about the Leslie family, well-to-do with a lot of family members, friends & acquaintances. The mother cheerfully and lovingly rearranges any and all plans for those around her, however small, until they show more become an ineffective mess. Fortunately the servants and the family know to just "carry on" while letting her have her say & thinking she is having her way. She's a lovable character even though one of the most vague characters I have come across. She and her husband had three sons and a daughter. Their oldest son was killed in the war so they are raising his teenage son. Their second son John, is a remarkably kind and intelligent man in his mid-30's, whose wife died after just one year of marriage. Their youngest son David, is a flirt and a man-about-town, with dozens of ideas for a brilliant career, none of which seem to ever work out for him.
Their daughter Agnes, is married with three small children, appears a bit simple minded & yet manages to be fairly observant and able to rise to the occasion and save the day.
The catalyst for change is when Agnes' niece by marriage Mary Preston, comes to stay for the summer. She falls in love with David, the flirtatious son, but also strikes a sympathetic chord in the heart of John who happens to be in the right time and place to provide a shoulder to lean on when she is going through a little crisis.
Most of the characters have their own story going on as the narrative drives forward to the climax, the 17th birthday party of the Leslie's grandson.
I found myself laughing out loud while reading. This book is very cleverly written and there were times when I just had to pause in delighted surprise at some funny and unexpected moment. I also love how Thirkell gives her readers different shadings of some of the characters. Mrs. Leslie could have been nothing but a caricature what with all of her ridiculous plans and interference. But the author occasionally dwells on the way that she thinks about her son who was killed in the war. Things like that make it difficult to find Thirkell's characters just one dimensional. The reader ends up seeing different sides of them.
I quite enjoyed this read as I have enjoyed every Thirkell I have attempted. show less

A summer at an English Country-house in the 1930s, with all the accompanying silliness and minor inconveniences and class issues that one might expect from such a setting. It is laugh-out-loud funny: there is a wonderfully irreverent joy in the foibles, idiocies, and innocent pleasures of minor gentry. Two things marred my pleasure: 1, this was written between world wars and contains some bs antisemitism and someone is compared to an n-word, and 2, the love story is utterly unconvincing. Mary has a crush on David, and this is written about in an almost cruelly accurate manner, from the ways she treasures his little gestures to the fantasies she has about showing him how wonderful and martyred she is. This crush is contrasted with the show more lurve David's older brother John supposedly has; at the end of the book they get married despite having had all of three conversations. Ugh. show less

What a lovely little book! It would be perhaps too sweetly superficial if its bubbling charm weren't given some unexpected poignancy by Lady Emily's mourning for her son, killed in the war, and by John's for his dead wife. Though these somber notes are struck only a couple of times, they make the novel more than simple fluff. That said, you can see its romantic conclusion coming for about 220 of its 227 pages ... but who says that's a bad thing?

Moyer Bell Publishing should be ashamed of themselves, though: the text is a mess. Typos, misplaced words and lines, random punctuation marks -- didn't anyone proofread the novel before it went to press?

This was really good! I'd read High Rising last year and enjoyed it; enough to buy the next couple of books, obviously. But then they languished on the pile for awhile, because High Rising wasn't that good.

But this was great! If you like family pandemonium (the kind where you sit back and wonder at the chaos as each member lives in their own orbit, occasionally bumping up against each other, while all somehow working as one eccentric unit), a smattering of light romance, a lot of tongue-in-cheek stereotyping and a story line that really meanders and goes nowhere in particular, this is a book worth checking out.

It's a historical piece, so there is at least one cringe worthy use of language, but in the context of the time it was written show more it, it doesn't come across as painful or nasty.

Mostly, it's just a wonderfully silly book. I closed it thinking "that was fun!". show less