High Rising (Barsetshire, #1) in Retro Reads

Sep 07, 2017 Mir rated it liked it

Shelves: realism

Well-written, mildly amusing novel of small-town, upper-middle-class English people having interactions and conversations. Dull romances and petty rivalries. Could have used more plot and less boys talking about trains. I'll most likely read another of her books sooner or later.

This edition has quite a lot of typos, of the sort that are almost certainly the fault of careless production -- missing punctuation, accidental unneeded paragraph spacing, that sort of thing. ...more

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Jun 21, 2018 Jan W. Mc rated it really liked it

First published in 1933, High Rising is an old-fashioned gentle reading experience. The protagonist, Laura Morland, is a widow with four sons who has carved out a life as a successful writer of less than literary novels. Her circle of close friends includes her young publisher, a noted biographer and his daughter, the local physician,and the daughter of a dying woman. Add to that mix a scheming, possessive, domineering secretary (known as the Incubus!) and a variety of old-style loves-in-blossom ...more

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Nov 28, 2007 CLM rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction

Angela Thirkell is an acquired taste but one that is quite addictive once begun. Basically, she took the county of Barchester, created by Trollope, and peopled it with the descendants of his characters. Her books are set during the 30s and 50s, and depict English county life in a way that is alien but plausible to an American reader.

It is not essential to begin with this one but it's easy to find, so why not read them in order? ...more

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Jan 13, 2011 Susan in NC rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: reread, favorites

What joy! What fun! I’ve been working my way through Thirkell’s Barsetshire novels for several years, in order, as I could get them, and have gotten up to the early 1950s (just finished Jutland Place). I was so looking forward to restarting the series from this first novel with the Retro Reads group!

Nothing too complex is going on, successful novelist Laura Morland has a country home at High Rising; she has managed to support her four sons and herself since losing her apparently worthless husban ...more

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Nov 03, 2014 Amy rated it it was amazing

Lovely charming silly read. I want to join all these characters for tea and gossip!

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May 07, 2018 Barb in Maryland rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, general-fiction, romance

4.5 stars
Absolute delight from beginning to end. Extremely witty look at village life in England between the wars. No big adventures, just small domestic dramas treated with a fond eye by the author. I had a smile on my face all the time I was reading it.
I now know why a number of my GR friends are such fans. I think I'm a convert! ...more

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Dec 19, 2018 Shareen rated it liked it

Shelves: brit-lit

This little book barely has a plot. It's just some comfortable happenings in a small village in England. It involves a romance or two without anything remotely romantic involved. I didn't really like the humor - not at all my style - but I did like the main character and her relationship with her son. It has some casually racist and sexist content like is not too uncommon for books of the period. ...more

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Sep 30, 2018 Jenn Estepp rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: comfort-food, lit-wall, kindling

Can’t believe I’ve never read Thirkell before. Loved it. And consensus seems to be that they just get better, so I’m in for a treat? I suspect fall & Winter will involve lots more Barsetshire.

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