News and Reviews
-
British Summer Time in Angela Thirkell’s Barsetshire
In Angela Thirkell’s novels British Summer Time is often the subject of complaint. During the war years, when Thirkell’s Barsetshire books were reflecting life on the Home Front, the adoption of British Summer Time and, more particularly, British Double Summer Time, are frequent causes of discontent. British Double Summer Time – putting clocks two hours…
-
Midlands Winter meeting
Following the modest success of September’s regional meeting, the group will be holding a pre-Christmas meeting at Stone, Staffordshire. The meeting is open to all ATS members who feel able and inclined to join us for a shared lunch. Marling Hall is the book up for discussion but assume there will be divagations. References and…
-
New editions from Virago
Good news for collectors of the Virago Modern Classics editions of the Barsetshire novels, with new editions of Angela Thirkell’s “Love Among the Ruins” and “The Old Bank House” planned for publication in 2024. This choice of titles means that “Private Enterprise” has been either passed over or forgotten, and we’re waiting for an update…
-
ALS Society of the Month
Every month the Alliance of Literary Societies chooses its “Society of the Month”; August 2023 was the turn of the Angela Thirkell Society. The ALS website gives an excellent précis of the works of Angela Thirkell, the aims of the society, and where to start if you’d like to know more about her life and…
-
Exploring the “other books”
“The Fortunes of Harriette” Angela’s account of the surprising career of Harriette Wilson It is perhaps natural that much of our focus in the Angela Thirkell Society is upon our author’s fiction, in particular the Barsetshire novels. They provide us with such a spacious area in which to browse and take recreation in every sense…
-
International Dog Day
It’s another of Those Days – August 26th has been designated, by those who decide these things, as International Dog Day. There’s no shortage of dogs in Angela Thirkell’s novels, but probably the most memorable is the dog with the most names – eventually settling to Gallant via Zog, Beneš, Amethyst, Eisenhower, Mannerheim, Churchill, Smigly-Rydz,…
-
Midlands meeting
The Society’s regional groups, together with so much else, stopped meeting during the Covid lockdowns, but there are tender green shoots of recovery. To (hopefully) get things started again, there’s a meeting in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, on September 9th, open to all ATS members who feel able and inclined to join us for quiche, cake, and…
-
International Cat Day
Today is International Cat Day, an excuse to remember Gunnar Tebben. Here he is in Chapter 4 (Rehearsal with Interludes) of August Folly doing what he does best – stealing and then boasting about it. On this occasion it earns him the thanks and approbation of Margaret, Richard and Mr Tebben. “Mrs. Tebben, prowling in…
-
Angela’s Animals
A recent project to repair dust jackets has been the opportunity for dipping randomly into the novels (naturally) and I’ve noticed just how many animals there are in Barsetshire. Putting the Keiths’ cook’s approach to cat population control to one side (or not, as it was probably widely accepted at the time; E M Delafield’s…
