Private Enterprise [Hardcover]

Angela Thirkell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1947

When the Second World War ends, "the boringness of public events" combines with continued shortages to curtail conversation in the parlors and drawing-rooms of Barsetshire: there's "really nothing to talk about but food." But happy tongues begin to wag at last when a war widow and her unmarried sister-in-law take up residence in a cottage at Southbridge. The young women's arrival and the promise of romantic possibilities it carries create a delightful stir among the bachelors and matchmakers of Barsetshire society, providing a welcome distraction from the lingering privations of peacetime.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

After the rigors of WWII, Thirkell (1890- 1961) excelled at easing British readers back, with a good-natured but sharp social eye, into the happier worries of romance and domestic relations. Originally published in 1947, Private Enterprise opens with the news that a young war widow and her sister-in-law are to become residents of Barsetshire county. Here, as everywhere else in the country, despite shortages of everything, all are trying cheerfully to make do. The denizens of the estimable enclave are abuzz with speculation when the lovely Mrs. Peggy Arbuthnot arrives with her sister-in-law, the stalwart Miss Arbuthnot, to take up residence in Editha Cottage. Lydia Merton, whose brother, barrister Colin Keith, has enlisted her aid, takes the ladies under her wing, introducing them into the proper social circles. Colin nurses a poorly disguised desire for the pretty widow and spends much time in sulks when she flirts with the eligible gentlemen of the village. In the meantime, other bachelors and young ladies play out a social minuet; nannies mind their young charges; and the clergy debate matters both spiritual and practical. There is many a pairing and re-pairing, and a startling secret from the past is revealed before several of the ladies and gentlemen of Barsetshire at last find their hearts' desires. Those who savor the sly English humor and gentle social satire of Stella Gibbons's Cold Comfort Farm and E.F. Benson's Mapp and Lucia novels will find similar delights here.

Copyright 1997 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Library Journal

Both published in 1947, these two novels in the publisher's ongoing series of Thirkell reprints again chronicle life in the mythical British county of Barsetshire. This duo find the area adjusting to the changes brought on by the end of World War II.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Knopf; First edition (June 1947)
• ISBN-10: 999753252X
• ISBN-13: 978-9997532527
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,036,688 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Angela Thirkell continues to entertain and give pleasure., June 29, 2010

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Colleen J. Nicholson "live to read, read to l... (Petersburg, AK USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Private Enterprise (Angela Thirkell Barsetshire Series) (Paperback)

Angela Thirkell's Barsetshire series continue to bring me satisfaction in reading about another place in another time that both entertain and enlighten. Her characters stay true to their roles and she makes alive the social life of the times, paying acknowledgement to the difficulties, but highlighting the strength of character of her folks. I come to her novels expecting to be absorbed in story and am never disappointed. I find in each title old friends and familiar places. In each story her plot is uncovered in the reading and I close the book knowing that like a good tea, I have been fed the basics and in excellent company.