Wild Strawberries is a witty comedy of manners set in the 1930’s during one perfect summer at Rushwater House and featuring its denizens, including Lady Emily, doyenne of the large family who inhabit it, her houseguests, two sons who vie for the same young woman, and an invasion of French Royalists with plans of their own. Ms. Thirkell combines the elements of romantic comedy and psychological insight to create a novel with is both amusing and moving.

Angela Thirkell (1890-1960), grew up amongst English academics amid politicians, travelled widely, and lived for many years in London, but few of these elements play a role in her 30-odd novels, all of which were set in the fictional county of Barsetshire. While her stories move from the pre-War years of country house parties and cotillions to the courage of the women in the Home Front in World War II, and finally to the changes brought by the Welfare State, in each she combined the elements of comedy, romance and social satire into one seamless whole. Setting the tone in all of them is Ms. Thirkell’s amusing and sometimes acerbic authorial voice, which harkens back to the halcyon days of drawing room comedy and high wit.

Pomfret Towers

In this classic comedy of manners, Lord Pomfret throws a weekend house party at his hugely ugly pile, bringing together wallflowers, hunting folk, pseudo artists and socialites, causing both confusion to reign and romance to blossom. Will the young heir to the Towers choose a bride? Will the awful Mrs. Rivers succeed in her matchmaking? Thirkell is eternally amusing, but also touching in how she captures the innocence of her young heroine, Alice Barton, a Cinderella too shy to go to the Ball. While the characters fall in and out of love, the reader soaks up the author’s depiction of country life in 1930’s England and revels in the small details of life in country houses, from the fires being lit in the morning by housemaids to elaborate dinner parties and the attendant niceties, all conveyed with a lightness of touch and a subtle insight into human nature.

Angela Thirkell (1890-1960), grew up amongst English academics amid politicians, travelled widely, and lived for many years in London, but few of these elements play a role in her 30-odd novels, all of which were set in the fictional county of Barsetshire. While her stories move from the pre-War years of country house parties and cotillions to the courage of the women in the Home Front in World War II, and finally to the changes brought by the Welfare State, in each she combined the elements of comedy, romance and social satire into one seamless whole. Setting the tone in all of them is Ms. Thirkell’s amusing and sometimes acerbic authorial voice, which harkens back to the halcyon days of drawing room comedy and high wit.