Customer Reviews

The Old Bank House

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This book begins the romantic relationship between Mr. Adams and Lucy Marling -- who is one of my favorite Thirkell heroines. Their wooing is far from a "candlelight and violins" situation. The book is very entertaining, and bound to be a favorite of Thirkell fans.

Angela Thirkell's Barsetshire novels would certainly never be described as great literature and yet there is something so enchanting about them that one can't help coming back to read more. For me, each new book feels like going home to hear all the latest juicy gossip about people I've come to know and love. What the books lack in plot and action is well compensated for by their humor ("Well, it takes all sorts to make a world." "So it does...but how very nice it would be if it didn't. There are so many sorts one could willingly dispense with...") and wonderful characters.

The focus point of this novel, the Old Bank House in Edgewood and its new owner Mr. Adams, provides a perfect illustration for the novel's main theme. Post war England, as many of the "older set" are coming to realize, will be a very different place from the peaceful world they had before the strife. Lines between gentry and commoner grow more blurred each day. People like Mr. Adams, who has become quite more respectable since we met him several novels ago, are stepping in to take the place of the old "regime." How will the people of the county react to this changing world and the many uncertainties it brings? As the older generation is slowly eroded by death, will the younger Barsetshire set be able to take up the reins? Will they, as their parents fervently wish, be able to stand strong against the new threats that peacetime brings like that of socialism, societal instability and moral decay? Will they make the sacrifices of their
parents worth the price. And, amidst all this turmoil, will they find love or be forced to face the future alone? Though hope at many points seems dim, they all struggle valiantly to make the best of this changing world and to enjoy its few remaining innocent pleasures with their neighbors and friends.

Thirkell draws on her theme of houses and the way they define and reflect their owners to give us a glimpse of each familiar Barsetshire family, from the dedicated but overworked Pomfrets at Thorne Hall, who must grapple with enormous social responsibilities and limited resources, to the Grahams at Holdings, where the new generation faces the loss of their beloved matriarch, Lady Emily. Glimpses into Edgewood Rectory, Marling Hall, Northbridge and many others provide the reader with plenty of laughter and enjoyment as Thirkell keenly observes and comments on the lives and personalities of the inhabitants. New and sometimes surprising relationships between the families develop, adding to the rich weaving of the tapestry that is Barsetshire.

One of the best things about this book is how very similar the problems that its characters face are to many we face today: things like post-war trauma and uncertainty and socialized medicine ("A pal of mine who knew about these things...tells me They budged for eight millions for dentists. More likely to be fifty millions by the look of it. Not much honest poverty now.") Although I know I miss out on much of Thirkell's humor, which is based heavily on period and British references, enough still comes through to make this book, like its predecessors, a rewarding read. And seeing some of my favorite characters, like Lucy Marling and Mr. Adams, finally find the happiness they deserve made it even better. The mothers of grown up children in these days mostly find...that they are not as selfish as they thought they were and that a treat.