Northbridge rectory [Hardcover]

Angela Mackail Thirkell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1942

Bartsetshire during wartime finds Mr. Downing, Miss Pemberton, and Mrs. Turner engaged in a love triangle; a chorus of officers raucously quartered at the rectory; and village ladies with violent leanings. In Mrs. Major Spender, Thirkell offers a devastating sketch of the good-natured egoist, and readers will be pleased that the less-than-articulate Betty finds a soulmate in Captain Copham.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 316 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; First American edition (1942)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0006APINS
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,204,416 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Oh Please!, January 24, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Northbridge Rectory (Paperback)

I came to Amazon to buy a copy of Northbridge Rectory as a present and was astounded by the childish lack of acumen in the other reviews. Two stars because of "snobbery"!? If that is the level of sophistication Thirkell is facing in her American audience, she'll be out of print quite soon. Thirkell's books, Northbridge included, are comedies of manners. They represent types of people, and that includes snobs, cowards, eccentrics, people of little distincton, people of much distinction. Northbridge uses a biting humor that I, and many others, find extremely funny because it so deeply transgresses all of the Steven Spielberg-like instincts to be agreeable and popular that so plagues American writing today: find out what sells, do it to death, hope to get in on the Oprah Book Club Bonanza, and above all, be agreeable to as many people as possible. Blahh! Thirkell was a fantastic writer who represented a world that was on its way out, as her novels make quite clear, and she was obviously sorry to see it go. She was not, in the Oprah vein, writing novels meant to make insecure or troubled people "feel good about themselves," which is death to literature. Thirkell's humor is not just meant to make us laugh, but also a part of a scheme in her works -- to hold up the silliness of the world she inhabits for all to see, and to suggest that we've lost something in the passing of time, rather than gained. That's why they are such wonderful books: they they're funny, they are sharp, they're literary, and they're light, all at once. I agree that not all of her Barsetshire books are of equal value, but none of them ranks below four stars, for heaven's sake!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Snobbery Question, March 22, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Northbridge Rectory (Hardcover)

I have been working on reading all the Barsetshire novels in order on and off for several years. Whenever I have sufficient leisure time I start again, usually trying to pick up where I left off and always finding I want to start again at the beginning so that I don't miss any of the book to book references.

Obviously, I am one of the fans of Thirkell's Barsetshire novels, those somewhat predictable, but always witty and delightful, tales of a fictional England around the time of WWII.

But these books are not for everyone. Certainly anyone who thinks Thirkell the equal of Austen is mistaken. Equally certainly, those who deny an element of snobbery are allowing their fondness for the novels to blind them to its presence. Yes, Thirkell mocks the foibles of upper-class characters, but she is far more tolerant of them than of the flaws of the lower-middle classes. While the working classes are treated nearly as well as the upper (mocked but always fondly), the middle classes (whom she often treats as social climbers) are often treated with scorn and distaste for the mildest of faux pas.

I love these books and wouldn't want to discourage anyone from reading them, but because some of the positive reviews are misleading, I wanted to give a more balanced view than I think either the attackers or the defenders have given.

Of the dozen or so Barsetshire novels I have read so far, Northbridge Rectory is my least favorite. For the reviewer who liked Before Lunch and wanted to know which others were more like that, I recommend Wild Strawberries, The Brandons, and August Folly. Those who object to Thirkell's snobbery should avoid Miss Bunting (this is the title of a book, not a character or author).

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Brew a pot of tea and get reading, April 25, 2003

By 

Elise Paxson (Woodbury, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Northbridge Rectory (Hardcover)

Set in fictional Barsetshire, England, this book is simply a delight. Ms. Thirkell is most adept at portraying the interplay of quirky characters, from the scholarly, socially inept Mr. Downing and his brusque yet well-meaning housemate, Miss Pemberton; the social terror that is Mrs. Spender; the Frenchified Hopgoods; and the attractive Mrs. Turner, among others - centered around Mrs. Villars, the Rector's wife. The setting of the novel, a country town amidst the uncertainty and austerity of World War II, is practically a character itself. I loved reading this and look forward to more of Ms. Thirkell's books.