{"id":1503,"date":"2016-06-13T21:00:45","date_gmt":"2016-06-13T15:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fableandi.com\/?p=1503"},"modified":"2020-04-04T21:15:13","modified_gmt":"2020-04-04T15:45:13","slug":"book-review-high-rising-angela-thirkell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thebooksatchel.com\/book-review-high-rising-angela-thirkell\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review : High Rising by Angela Thirkell"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Angela Thirkell is a new author for me. She gained a place on my bookshelf when Virago reprinted her writings in absolutely stunning covers recently. What drew me to the book more than the name of the author is the fact that it is set in Barsetshire, the fictional county created by Trollope in his Barchester series ( Book 1 being The Warden<\/a><\/span><\/em>) which I have been reading since the beginning of this year. It is absolutely wonderful to dive into another series set in the same fictional region.It almost feels as if it is a real place existing in the world.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n High Rising <\/em>takes place between Christmas and Easter in High and Low Rising. It centres around the novelist Laura Morland, a widow who has turned to writing to support her four sons. Laura\u2019s writing falls into the category of \u2018good bad books\u2019 and I loved the way Thirkell presents her whole career in funny snippets. Especially wonderful are the well defined side characters; from the annoying Tony Morland to housekeeper, Stoker, and her gossips among the servants of the neighbourhood.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Laura\u2019s friends are a perfect group who gossip and try to organise one another\u2019s lives.\u00a0 Their main concern is George Knox, a widower and author who Laura has been friends with for many years.\u00a0His new secretary Miss Grey seems to nurturing matrimony plans with her employer. Will George be rescued from the ambitious Miss Grey? Will his daughter, Sybil find love in the young publisher Aldrin? Will she be as good a writer as George? Witty and humorous, High Rising takes us through love vs business and friendship vs bitter truths in this story.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n