Marling Hall: A Barsetshire Novel [Paperback]

Angela Mackail Thirkell (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This dry comedy of manners, set in a parochial England that was rapidly disappearing under the threat of Nazi Germany, was the first of Thirkell's increasingly dark novels written during World War II. But the placid surface of middle-class life in towns such as Marling Melicent--where a bohemian, faintly disreputable brother and sister suddenly appear and rent an Edwardian manor--remains mostly undisturbed. Thirkell, who portrayed a vanishing England, is enjoying something of a revival with many of her 40-odd novels being reprinted in the United States. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Jane Austen is the reassuring model here, even more than Anthony Trollope. -- The New Yorker, Hermione Lee --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf Pub (November 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0881846767
• ISBN-13: 978-0881846768
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,794,455 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I agree about the poor reprinting but the book itself is fun, May 8, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Marling Hall: A Barsetshire Novel (Paperback)

I enjoyed the book as I enjoy all of Thirkell's books that I can find. I am happy that Moyer Bell is reprinting them regularly - I believe one is due this spring. I don't like the Carroll & Graff reprints either because the typeset is so sloppy and blurred, it is annoying.

I have always thought that Thirkell's books are great books to read on the beach, in the plane or on other occasions when you want something entertaining, light and funny. If you can't stand the silly inanity of authors like Danielle Steele, Rosamund Pilcher or Mary Higgins Clark but you want something light and entertaining to read, Thirkell is your man. (Or woman, I should say.)

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Carroll Graff print quality is very poor., September 15, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Marling Hall: A Barsetshire Novel (Paperback)

I first read Ms. Thirkell's novels in the late 70s, and was immediately entranced. It is all the more disappointing, therefore, to see these terrible Carroll Graff reprints. The type is blurred and illegible, and the whole book quality is offputting to the reader. In comparison to the Moyer Bell reprints, which, while they have an awful lot of typographical errors, are well produced paperbacks, these Carroll Graff reprints are unacceptably bad. I can't believe that the editors thought they could get away with such poor quality for readers of Thirkell, who are likely, I suspect, to be rather discriminating consumers.

5.0 out of 5 stars A trip back in time, December 8, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Marling Hall: A Barsetshire Novel (Paperback)

Angela Thirkell takes us back to the wonderful world of Barsetshire once again, and reminds us that the foibles of human nature never change. She weaves strands of love, humour, compassion and the natural irritation that occurs when an entire country has been under the stress of war for so many years. Her charactors are sharply drawn (although after many books there are certainly patterns or types that emerge), her love stories are never trite and her understanding of human nature is impeccable. I've enjoyed all of her earlier and middle books, and think this is certainly one of her best. I've reread it three or four times, and while it may not be a classic on the level of Trollope, it has the same dry wit and observation. It begins with Lettice Watson sleeping in
her old childhood bed, awakening with the sense that she never had left. Now that she's a mother with two small children of her own she has taken over the stable quarters and with Nurse begins a new life as a war widow. The tragedies, big or small are handled so matter of factly that they always help me keep my own disappointments in perspective. Lettice's comfort in awakening in a familiar place is a model for the feeling I get reading this book; I know that everything will work out in the end. Elizabeth Drew in the Atlantic said it best "Angela Thirkell's gentle satires of her own class and time speak to all of us-to the best, the bravest, the kindest part of us."