Wild Strawberries [Paperback]

Angela Mackail Thirkell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1989

Based on her own life, author Angela Thirkell provides a light-hearted look at entertaining in the English countryside. Seasoned with irony, a summer party attracts hoardes of houseguests and hangers-on as they embrace moonlight and madness for hilarious intrigues.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Angela Thirkell, granddaughter of pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones, was born in London in 1890. She began writing novels in 1930 to support herself and her sons. She produced a new book almost every year for the rest of her life. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 265 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf Pub (August 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0881845558
• ISBN-13: 978-0881845556
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,436,055 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars May be the funniest characters ever invented., October 26, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Wild Strawberries (Barsetshire series) (Paperback)

All of Thirkell's novels are funny, but the Leslie family may be the funniest of all. One of the best things about them is that they think they are funny, too. It would be difficult to imagine anyone reading this book who has any vestiges of a sense of humor who could not feel happier after reading a few pages. Yet they all have some depth. There has been sadness in their lives and they deeply care about each other, but mostly they live so in the moment that life itself doesn't intrude upon them easily. Thirkell didn't get on the best 100 of the century, but she might be entitled to the first 20 or so. Read all her books and see which 10 or 12 you would omit!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A get-away-from-it-all book that never leaves the real world, July 18, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Wild Strawberries (Paperback)

Angela Thirkell is a novelist after the fashion of Jane Austen. She use wit, charm, and style to uncover and skewer some of the foibles, follies, and eccentricities of her characters. Unlike some others, she always does so lovingly and with great regard for the human person. This story centers around a few young people and the romantic entanglements they experience throughout a summer in rural Barsetshire. The plot of the story might well have given rise to the movie "Sabrina." There are no wild twists or sudden curves; however, they are not needed because the beauty of the prose and the careful observation of each person allows this novel to open up into an entire world of exploration. Once you have read it, you will want to return to it again and again to enjoy the characters, the settings, and the sumptuous prose. While this is a superb read, it is, remarkably, not the very best of Thirkell. The reader who is just starting has some real treats ahead for them

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vintage Thirkell, March 22, 2004

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Wild Strawberries (Barsetshire series) (Paperback)

Of the many charming characters that people Thirkell's Barsetshire, the Leslies are the most delightful. Meet them in this book and then enjoy them again in later Thirkell novels (notably Marling Hall).

Thirkell doesn't provide suspense or surprises, but is perfect light enjoyment for those who appreciate light English wit, sillier than Austen but not as silly as Wodehouse (both of whom are authors I love).