From the Bookshelf of Retro Reads…

Northbridge Rectory (Barsetshire, #10)

Angela Thirkell

Start date: July 5, 2025

Finish date: August 4, 2025

Discussion: Buddy reads

Discussion leader: Susan in NC

Why we're reading this: Continuing our group's read of the Barsetshire novels.…more
[close] Continuing our group's read of the Barsetshire novels.

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What Members Thought

Jul 22, 2025 Cphe rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: series, 2025, virago, virago-25, england, historical, war

Overall I enjoyed it - the period, the setting and the characters. Have decided that I have to be in the right mindset for the author.
Appreciated the perspective of the war from another angle.

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Aug 03, 2022 Elinor rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I find myself reading these books in pairs…after finishing one, I’m not ready to give up the “inner laughter” that Thirkell induces with her highly original characters and barbed wit; after reading the second, I’m ready for something a little meatier before sinking back into English village life. This is the tenth book in the Barsetshire series, always an antidote to the stresses of modern life —mine, anyway.

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Feb 15, 2018 Mela rated it liked it

Shelves: humor, region-british, group-virago-modern-classic, historical-romance, historical-period-1914-1945, internet-archive, historical-fiction

Another cozy satire by Mrs. Thirkell. There were all parts characteristic for her novel. I have really enjoyed reading it. I love (it applies to her every book) when she talked to a reader directly or just winked at us.

But... I am spoiled, pampered by her previous books of series. So, I give it only three stars. I can't say that something was wrong with this story. I just have been missing something. But I really don't know what. When I am thinking of the characters (Miss Pemberton, Mrs. Turner, ...more

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Jun 22, 2025 Susan in NC rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, kindle, tbr-with-gr-groups, reread, want-to-reread, tbr-retro

2025: I’ve read many more of the author’s Barsetshire novels since my first read of this one, and subsequently lowered my rating to four stars. It’s still an enjoyable read, and I like Mrs. Villars very much (the rector’s wife around whom much of the book revolves) - she reminds of a typical middle-aged Thirkell heroine, a bit wishy-washy by modern standards, but very kind, helpful, and always able to laugh at herself and those around her, but never cruelly. Well, except for the obnoxious Mrs. S 2025: I’ve read many more of the author’s Barsetshire novels since my first read of this one, and subsequently lowered my rating to four stars. It’s still an enjoyable read, and I like Mrs. Villars very much (the rector’s wife around whom much of the book revolves) - she reminds of a typical middle-aged Thirkell heroine, a bit wishy-washy by modern standards, but very kind, helpful, and always able to laugh at herself and those around her, but never cruelly. Well, except for the obnoxious Mrs. Spender, a whirlwind who blows in and out of the story visiting her husband, one of the officers billeted at the rectory.

Another character I adored, but didn’t remember much from my first read, was Father “Tubby” Fewling, who appears in future installments of the Barsetshire series. Thirkell adds new characters in every book, until the cast becomes rather unwieldy in the end of the series (she wrote a book about once a year, I believe). There are a few scenes where usually reticent, reserved characters seek his advice to personal problems, and I thought he handled them admirably. He comes across as a really decent, thoughtful friend. Wonderful to revisit the wartime books!

2011: Delightful! I am reading Angela Thirkell's books as I can get hold of them, and find them very enjoyable. I just finished Trollope's Barsetshire series, and the thing that drew me to Thirkell was her use of Trollope's fictional county as a setting for her books. In "Northbridge Rectory" Barsetshire's residents are settling into wartime with its blackouts, evacuees, rationing, and constant fear of invasion. There is plenty of Thirkell's dry wit as she gently skewers the pomposities and conceits of some of her characters, and even several broad swipes of the bared claw at one truly obnoxious but hilarious character (the priceless Mrs. Spender, no pun intended!); but underlying the humor are characters braving all the discomforts, deprivations and fears without a thought, indeed with good cheer - the proverbial British stiff upper lip. In one of the insightful inner musings of one of the main characters, she wonders at how everyone accepts more and more easily the worsening shortages and demands of war as a new normal; as an American reading the book in 2011, I couldn't help wondering how we would hold up under such conditions, then OR now!

Although Thirkell is often compared to Trollope, Austen and even E.F. Benson for her dry wit and characters, some critics ultimately dismiss her as not in their league. I agree, however, with the contemporary critics who wrote on the ancient jacket cover of this edition from my library: "I am often impressed by Angela Thirkell's likeness to Jane Austen: both writers possess a superb command of rural atmosphere and of inducing inner laughter"; "Mrs. Thirkell is a voluptuary in gay malice"; and my favorite, "I would call her a female Trollope, if this were not rude and tautologous." All true, I think, and said with much better flair than I could ever muster! ...more

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Aug 16, 2017 Tania rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: humour, virago, middlebrow

This book is not as light-hearted as her earlier books as the residents of Barsetshire are now in the middle of the war and suffering the privations of rationing, but I'm still enjoying them and looking forward to reading the next instalment. ...more

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Jan 25, 2025 Joanie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Didn't like the characters in this book very much but I pushed through it. Too bad John only appears in the last 5 pages. He might have have been my favorite. ...more

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