Three by - Angela Thirkell Audiobook

Written by Angela Thirkell
Read by Jilly Bond, Nadia May, Katherine Romaine
Format: MP3
Bitrate: Mixed
Unabridged

High Rising
Narrated by: Jilly Bond

Series: Barsetshire #1
Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
Release date: 11-03-16
Publisher: Hachette Audio UK

A Virago Modern Classic

In Angela Thirkell’s first Barsetshire novel, she sets the plot pattern that will be played out in most of her later books. She also introduces us to specific characters as well as ‘types’ that will appear and reappear in changing relationships as the years go by.

Successful lady novelist Laura Morland and her boisterous young son, Tony, set off to spend Christmas at her country home in the sleepy surrounds of High Rising. But Laura’s wealthy friend and neighbour, George Knox, has taken on a scheming secretary whose designs on marriage to her employer threaten the delicate social fabric of the village.

Can clever, practical Laura rescue George from Miss Grey’s clutches and, what’s more, help his daughter, Miss Sibyl Knox, to secure her longed-for engagement?

Especially delightful are the children, servants and other retainers; well defined characters in their own right; from motor-mouthed young Tony Morland and his model railways to housekeeper Stoker and her grapevine among the servants of the neighborhood.

Utterly charming and very funny, High Rising is irresistible comic entertainment.

Wild Strawberries
Narrated by Katherine Romaine

Series: Barsetshire Chronicles, Book 2
Length: 7 hours, 53 minutes
Publisher: NLS National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped
Date; 1991, reissue 2013

A light comedy of manners set in an English country house in the late 1920s. Lady Emily Leslie solicitously leads her household of family, guests, and various hangers-on through its social paces. The incident of the wild strawberries helps a young lady decide which of two brothers she truly loves.

The rip was not mine. Sound lowered, noise reduced, 32k as original…

Coronation Summer
Nadia May (Wanda McCaddon )

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc
Length: 5 hr., 30 min.

In the coronation summer of 1838, seventeen-year-old Fanny Harcourt goes to London to stay with her close friend Emily Dacre for the festivities. The young Victoria, scarcely older than Fanny herself, is to assume the throne of England. Enjoying the pomp and pageantry, the swelling crowds of commoners and snobs, Fanny soon catches the eye of a handsome novelist. Infatuations, matchmaking hazards, and romantic misunderstandings enhance the carnival atmosphere as the two girls explore the city. But it will take a real disaster to sort out the merely spectacular from the truly honorable

Goodreads
“There is so much that I love about this book; the memorable characters, the descriptions of London, and the humor. I love Fanny and Emily and Mr. Tom and Mr. Darnley. They are all dear characters. I also loved how the story starts “from the end”. It kinds of separates this book from other books like this.”

‘Well, Nadia May and Angela T. are a great combo, so I had high expectations for this unusual piece of Thirkell’s work. CS is not about Barsetshire per se (I haven’t had a chance to dig back and see what links exist), but the usual chatty voice and “much ado about nothing” approach are present. The social information is fascinating, but there are big plot gaps: the Ingoldsby Legends idea, with a long poem in Irish (?) dialect supposedly written by the Ingoldsby’s groom. . . . What was that all about? Some of the more entertaining pieces are the sisterly exchanges and infighting between Fanny and Emily, and Thirkell’s gleeful presentation of a biased narrator. All in all, not what I expected, but a pleasant outing.”

Quality is not the best but charming stories….