AUGUST FOLLY chronicles the lives and loves of modern Barsetshire in this comedy of everyday life as it is lived in an English village community. Mrs Palmer with her fondness for staging Greek dramas unwittingly brings about several romances thereby. Chief among them is the affair of Richard Tebben with Mrs Palmer's house guest--the mother of nine children. The end of summer, however. finds Richard himself again. The comedy is held together with word and deed--especially word.
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"Mrs. Thirkell's laughter...has a sane, healthy, indestructible sound."
About the Author
Angela Thirkell, granddaughter of pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones, was born in London in 1890. Related to Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, cousin to Rudyard Kipling, mother of Colin Maclnnes and Graham Mclnnes, Thirkell was one of the most famous comic novelists of her day. She began writing in 1930 to support herself and her sons. She died in 1961.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An Affectionate Send Up Of English Country Life In The '30's,
This review is from: August Folly (Paperback)
August Folly, one of Angela Thirkell's early titles in her Barsetshire series, is an engaging and affectionately satiric look at English "County" life in the 1930's. Thirkell's strength lies in her acutely observed characters, and amusing plotting. The fictitious locale of the novel is taken from the series of novels by Anthony Trollope known as the Barsetshire novels or chronicles, starting with The Warden and Barchester Towers, two classics of English literature of the 19th century. Although Thirkell's writing and depth of characterization don't compare with Trollope's, her novels are witty and amusing in their own right, a sort of minor 20th century Jane Austen. This is the countryside of P.G. Wodehouse and of Agatha Christie from a different perspective. One of the great pleasures of reading Thirkell's novels, however, lies not just in the work at hand, but in encountering characters one met in prior novels and following their changing lives, in seeing a character with whom one became acquainted in a novel from a different perspective, and in seeing the characters of her novels face the real challenges of life in England as it went through World War II, and in the years following. To some degree, the Thirkell novels about Barsetshire life in the 20th century are addictive, and one is always on the look out for further titles in the series, which are currently being published in the U.S. by a small New England press, Moyer Bell. I highly recommend this novel, and the entire series.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Best of a Delightful Series,
By Mae (Ohio) - See all my reviews
This review is from: August Folly (Paperback)
It was through this delightful book that I discovered Angela Thirkell. Since then, I have gone through several Barsetshire periods, during which I read nothing else. Thirkell's Barsetshire books are addictive both because of their delightful humor and because the reader meets the same characters again and again.Much as I enjoy Thirkell's work, however, few of her other novels measure up to the standard set by August Folly. (The Brandons is my other favorite, and Wild Strawberries and Before Lunch come close.) I have found that August Folly is excellent for reading aloud as well, with no overly long passages to obscure the wit and light-hearted plot.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Typical Thirkell,
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This review is from: August Folly (Paperback)
A great example of her enduring stories. Loveable and a cheerful read. Got me through whooping cough!
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First Sentence:
THE LITTLE VILLAGE OF WORSTED, SOME SIXTY MILES WEST of London, is still, owing to the very defective railway system which hardly attempts to serve it, to a great extent unspoilt. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Dower House, Manor House, Aunt Palmer, Lady Bond, Miss Thomas, Miss Dolly, Charles Fanshawe, Lamb's Piece, Rachel Dean, Winter Overcotes, Doris Phipps, Laurence Dean, Miss Tebben, Uncle Charles, Bert Margett, Margaret Tebben, Rushwater Rubicon, Staple Park, Booking Hall, Lucasta Bond, Richard Tebben, Winifred Ross, Fanshawe of Paul, Frank Dean, Miss Austen New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
THE LITTLE VILLAGE OF WORSTED, SOME SIXTY MILES WEST of London, is still, owing to the very defective railway system which hardly attempts to serve it, to a great extent unspoilt. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Dower House, Manor House, Aunt Palmer, Lady Bond, Miss Thomas, Miss Dolly, Charles Fanshawe, Lamb's Piece, Rachel Dean, Winter Overcotes, Doris Phipps, Laurence Dean, Miss Tebben, Uncle Charles, Bert Margett, Margaret Tebben, Rushwater Rubicon, Staple Park, Booking Hall, Lucasta Bond, Richard Tebben, Winifred Ross, Fanshawe of Paul, Frank Dean, Miss Austen New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 1
book:
9
books
cite this book:
See all 9 books citing this book
- The East End: Four Centuries of London Life by Alan Warwick Palmer on page 193, page 239, and page 271
- Ethnicity and Gender in the Barsetshire Novels of Angela Thirkell: (Contributions in Women's Studies) by Penelope Fritzer on 11 pages
- Narrative Settlements: Geographies of British Women's Fiction between the Wars by Jennifer Poulos Nesbitt on 7 pages
- Character and Concept in the Barsetshire Novels of Angela Thirkell by Penelope Fritzer on 6 pages
- English Country Life in the Barsetshire Novels of Angela Thirkell: (Contributions to the Study of World Literature) by Laura Collins on 4 pages
- The Dressmaker by Beryl Bainbridge on page 148
See all 9 books citing this book
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