Status
Available
Call number
Series
Genres
Publication
New York: Pyramid Books, 1972
Description
Barsetshire in the war years. Miss Bunting, governess of choice to generations of Barsetshire aristocracy, has been coaxed out of retirement by Sir Robert and Lady Fielding to tutor their daughter Anne, delicate, sixteen years old, and totally lacking in confidence. When Anne makes friends with Heather Adams, the gauche daughter of a nouveau riche entrepreneur, her mother is appalled. Miss Bunting, however, shows an instinctive understanding of the younger generation - perhaps, having lost so many of her former pupils to the war, she is more sympathetic to their needs. She may be a part of the old social order, where everyone knows their place, but is wise enough to realise that the war has turned everything on its head and nothing will ever be the same again - even in rural Barsetshire. First published in 1945, Miss Bunting is a charming social comedy of village life during the Second World War.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member thorold
Published in 1945, and fits in with the mood of Thirkell's other home-front morale-booster novels. The war is nearly over, but things are still scarce, many of the ladies of Barsetshire have lost sons, brothers, husbands, others are in uncertainty as to whether their men will ever come back, those
There are plenty of little jokes here, but unless you read it very superficially you're unlikely to come out with your morale boosted: on the whole, the view of the world here is a rather depressing one. As usual with later Thirkell, she often goes just that little bit too far, crossing the invisible line that divides engaging social satire from unpleasant snobbery. This is especially so with the industrialist Mr Adams and his daughter Heather, who appear in several of the other wartime novels as well. They are clearly meant to be sympathetic, if slightly comical characters, refugees from Dickens whom she misguidedly wants to present as representatives of the up and coming generation of the fifties. But Thirkell simply can't bring herself to like them, and keeps sticking the knife in when she thinks the reader isn't looking. Not an attractive picture.
All the same, she does write so well. In this book, it's the big set-piece scene, the meeting of the Barsetshire Archaeological Society, that it the real triumph, and before and after it there is an ample supply of Thirkell specialities like grumpy old men, small boys and schoolmistresses.
The times being what they were, Thirkell couldn't do much in the way of servants (her other big comic speciality) in this book, apart from the rather nasty caricature of Gradka, the bloodthirsty East European refugee. At least she avoids being directly offensive by making her a native of Mixo-Lydia, the only fictitious country ever to be named after a musical mode...
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too old to fight are suddenly feeling their age, and it's increasingly plain that — for the upper middle classes at least — postwar England will be very different from the cosy world of the thirties. There are plenty of little jokes here, but unless you read it very superficially you're unlikely to come out with your morale boosted: on the whole, the view of the world here is a rather depressing one. As usual with later Thirkell, she often goes just that little bit too far, crossing the invisible line that divides engaging social satire from unpleasant snobbery. This is especially so with the industrialist Mr Adams and his daughter Heather, who appear in several of the other wartime novels as well. They are clearly meant to be sympathetic, if slightly comical characters, refugees from Dickens whom she misguidedly wants to present as representatives of the up and coming generation of the fifties. But Thirkell simply can't bring herself to like them, and keeps sticking the knife in when she thinks the reader isn't looking. Not an attractive picture.
All the same, she does write so well. In this book, it's the big set-piece scene, the meeting of the Barsetshire Archaeological Society, that it the real triumph, and before and after it there is an ample supply of Thirkell specialities like grumpy old men, small boys and schoolmistresses.
The times being what they were, Thirkell couldn't do much in the way of servants (her other big comic speciality) in this book, apart from the rather nasty caricature of Gradka, the bloodthirsty East European refugee. At least she avoids being directly offensive by making her a native of Mixo-Lydia, the only fictitious country ever to be named after a musical mode...
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LibraryThing member leslie.98
This 14th entry in Angela Thirkell's Barsetshire series had a lot of references to the Trollope series, especially in the families - the Frank Greshams and the Dales in particular. While knowing the Trollope series isn't required to enjoy this novel, it does add a spice to the storyline revolving
did that another piece of the pre-war world had
gone and the tide of a Brave and Horrible New
World was lapping at her feet." While I understand this feeling, not being from that time and place I cannot truly sympathise & can only hope that the light humour I enjoy so much will continue in the rest of the series.
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about Mr. Adams of Hogglestock. Although I laughed aloud at several points while reading this, this novel (written at the end of WW2) has a feeling of sadness, not just about the dead & wounded men but for the loss of a state of society Thirkell had captured so wonderfully in the early books in the series. As she says "...Jane Gresham, who felt as the Fieldingsdid that another piece of the pre-war world had
gone and the tide of a Brave and Horrible New
World was lapping at her feet." While I understand this feeling, not being from that time and place I cannot truly sympathise & can only hope that the light humour I enjoy so much will continue in the rest of the series.
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LibraryThing member lauralkeet
Miss Bunting is the fourteenth of Angela Thirkell’s Barsetshire novels and like the other books, is a comedy of manners set in a fictional English country town. Set near the end of World War II, the townspeople have felt the war’s impact. Jane Gresham is raising her impish young son
And yet day-to-day life can be surprisingly normal, providing Thirkell with ample opportunity to poke fun at English culture and customs. Her stories are often set in motion by the introduction of new characters, or well-known characters in new and different situations. In Miss Bunting, a governess is engaged to tutor a young girl for the summer, and a wealthy businessman and his daughter rent rooms from a lonely widow. Their days are filled with small-town rituals like church services and meetings of community organizations. These, along with Sunday lunch and afternoon tea, provide amusing satire of the English class system. Even though it seems like nothing much really happens, Thirkell’s characters and the way they interact with one another make for fun reading.
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single-handedly while living with uncertainty about her husband, who has gone missing in the Pacific. Robin Dale returned from military service with an artificial foot. While he found work teaching in a primary school, the prolonged absence of men means the pipeline of new students has dwindled.And yet day-to-day life can be surprisingly normal, providing Thirkell with ample opportunity to poke fun at English culture and customs. Her stories are often set in motion by the introduction of new characters, or well-known characters in new and different situations. In Miss Bunting, a governess is engaged to tutor a young girl for the summer, and a wealthy businessman and his daughter rent rooms from a lonely widow. Their days are filled with small-town rituals like church services and meetings of community organizations. These, along with Sunday lunch and afternoon tea, provide amusing satire of the English class system. Even though it seems like nothing much really happens, Thirkell’s characters and the way they interact with one another make for fun reading.
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LibraryThing member Herenya
Set during WWII, this focuses on Jane Gresham, whose husband has been missing in action for years; sixteen year old Anne Fielding, who is being tutored by the elderly Miss Bunting (from Marling Hall); Robin Dale, a war amputee now teaching young boys (including Jane’s eight year old); and on
I enjoyed reading this, even when the war means the characters’ moods and circumstances are understandably subdued. Thirkell, with her attention to the details and inconveniences of everyday life, gives her stories a strong sense of atmosphere and, having just lived through a year disrupted by a pandemic, I found the atmosphere here rather satisfying.
Saturday dawned bright and fair, but observing that it was still Double Summer Time, took offence and relapsed into chill greyness. As no inhabitant of the British Isles has ever got used to the odious and so-called summer weather which has always been their portion, and far less to the vagaries of D.S.T., there was a good deal of grumbling everywhere, which grumbling was gradually diverted to the less eternal grievances of the fish, the daily woman, that girl at the Food Office, the Government, that noise all night like a mouse just at the head of my bed, and I must set a trap as pussy doesn't seem much good at it, the way the laundry has ironed that nice tablecloth, and other daily food of human nature.
Moreover, even if the characters didn’t know that the war is nearly over, I knew and could be hopeful for them.
(I wonder if Thirkell knew when she finished this... Even if, as Project Gutenberg Canada suggests, this was published in December of 1945, she would have surely had to have turned in the manuscript before Japan surrendered, if not before Victory Day?)
I skimmed the bits with the refugee cook -- I suspect Thirkell’s intention was to portray her positively, but I’ve noticed that when it comes to perceived outsiders to Thirkell’s world, her attempts at humour and at sympathy can feel hampered by stereotypes and prejudice.
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their interactions with Heather Adams and her father (from The Headmistress).I enjoyed reading this, even when the war means the characters’ moods and circumstances are understandably subdued. Thirkell, with her attention to the details and inconveniences of everyday life, gives her stories a strong sense of atmosphere and, having just lived through a year disrupted by a pandemic, I found the atmosphere here rather satisfying.
Saturday dawned bright and fair, but observing that it was still Double Summer Time, took offence and relapsed into chill greyness. As no inhabitant of the British Isles has ever got used to the odious and so-called summer weather which has always been their portion, and far less to the vagaries of D.S.T., there was a good deal of grumbling everywhere, which grumbling was gradually diverted to the less eternal grievances of the fish, the daily woman, that girl at the Food Office, the Government, that noise all night like a mouse just at the head of my bed, and I must set a trap as pussy doesn't seem much good at it, the way the laundry has ironed that nice tablecloth, and other daily food of human nature.
Moreover, even if the characters didn’t know that the war is nearly over, I knew and could be hopeful for them.
(I wonder if Thirkell knew when she finished this... Even if, as Project Gutenberg Canada suggests, this was published in December of 1945, she would have surely had to have turned in the manuscript before Japan surrendered, if not before Victory Day?)
I skimmed the bits with the refugee cook -- I suspect Thirkell’s intention was to portray her positively, but I’ve noticed that when it comes to perceived outsiders to Thirkell’s world, her attempts at humour and at sympathy can feel hampered by stereotypes and prejudice.
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Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1946
Physical description
318 p.; 18 cm