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Angela Thirkell
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High Rising: A Virago Modern Classic (Virago Modern Classics Book 370) Kindle Edition

by Angela Thirkell (Author), Alexander McCall Smith (Introduction) Format: Kindle Edition
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 658 ratings
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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?

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

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Previous page
  1. Print length
    278 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Virago
  5. Publication date
    November 22, 2012
  6. File size
    741 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The unmarried Anne Todd, a wonderful secretary as well as a devoted bedside nurse to her decrepit mother, is an archetypal Thirkell heroine: plucky, determined, resourceful, but acutely aware that being safely married would be a better alternative. The current resurgence of interest of Thirkell, several of whose 40-odd novels of life in imaginary "Barsetshire" before World War II are being reissued, has awakened a nostalgia for the sharp glittering surfaces of her work. High Rising is Thirkell at her warm, easygoing best. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From AudioFile

From the 1930s to the '50s, Angela Thirkell specialized in absurd, astute novels of manners set amongst the landed gentry and townsfolk of England. Think of Jane Austen transmuted to the twentieth century. HIGH RISING is the story of Mrs. Moreland, a novelist, and her youngest son, Tony, during their Christmas holidays in the village of High Rising. All heck breaks out when an untrustworthy secretary tries to seduce a neighboring writer, Mrs. Moreland's publisher falls in love with the neighbor's daughter, the doctor proposes to Mrs. Moreland's own secretary, and throughout, young Tony talks only of his expanding model train collection. It's silly and heartening and, despite the dated anti-Semitic references, enormous fun. Jilly Bond reads with enthusiasm and a clear understanding of the story's counterpoint social observation and humor. One voice occasionally slips into another, but that doesn't matter, as the characterizations are spot-on. Even her 10-year-old Tony is perfect. A.C.S. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00P74VJ7W
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Virago; Reissue edition (November 22, 2012)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 22, 2012
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 741 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 278 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1844088839
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 658 ratings

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Angela Thirkell

Angela Thirkell

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Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
658 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Ruth
5.0 out of 5 stars Charming funny light reading
Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2017
Verified Purchase
Headline says it all. I'm really reviewing to respond to some comments I've seen frequently in older reviews.

I have not noticed sloppy editing. I'm writing in January 2017 so it may be that the edition had been cleaned up.

Some readers have complained about the heroine's dryly humorous remarks about her children. I flatly disagree with the criticism. She is very fond but very realistic about her young son . . . in a way that I wish more modern parents would. You know what I mean - the modern idea (thankfully rare amongst sensible parents) that even the slightest criticism damages tender egos to the point of abuse. The kind of people who are always tut-tutting.

Yes, there are casually uttered anti-Semitic remarks that are jarring. But that is how people thought and talked. If you reject the book for its fairly accurate dialogue, I assume you also will never watch another Bugs Bunny cartoon, or a movie from the 50s, 60s or 70s or frankly, read anything by Louisa May Alcott.

The book is what it is: light funny reading that does not take itself seriously and doesn't intend that you should either. You are not required to accept the prejudice and you can even give yourself a little pat for noticing and disapproving what most people in the 1930s would have accepted without question.

The book is still worth reading and I look forward to more of them.
37 people found this helpful
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Jerri
4.0 out of 5 stars Funny Cozy Novel
Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2022
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I have never read anything by Angela Thirkell, although her name seems so familiar. What a smart, wicked sense of humor she tells her tales with. I smiled a great deal, and even giggled several times reading High Rising. The main character, Laura is 40-something widow with four sons. She has been subsizizing their education costs by writing popular mystery novels. Her youngest son, Tony, is the only one left at home, and is just too funny for his own good. As the intrigues and relationships in the story begin to unravel towards the end, Tony becomes aware that, "For a few moments he was penetrated by that ever-recurring sense of the unreasonableness of grown-ups."

The single objection I had with the story was the frequent, long-winded and often tedious conversations and speeches from dear George Knox, which were just part of his personality. Although the novel begins during Christmas time, which was the reason I chose it, the bulk of the story takes place in the following spring, when most of the main character's worries, feelings and problems are happily solved. I enjoyed this witty, old fashioned novel very much. I will seek out more from Ms. Thirkell
5 people found this helpful
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Shari Klase
3.0 out of 5 stars Confusing cast of characters
Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2024
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I could follow this book somewhat. It is certainly cleverly written but it would do better with a forwarding page with all the characters and a brief description. There was continuous hullabaloo going on at every instance. The book was very humorously written but I'm only generally aware of who was who and what was what. All I know for sure is the book writer, Laura, focal point of the narrative had a very annoying son who couldn't stop talking about trains. Other than that I know two of her friends end up planning matrimony to two of her other friends and one interloper, a Miss Grey tried to throw a monkey wrench into the whole works. You can try this book yourself if you dare. It has more additions but I'm not sure if I have courage to attempt them myself.
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K. K. Henson
5.0 out of 5 stars Funny and charming
Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2015
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I had forgotten just how thoroughly entertaining Angela Thirkell's novels are until they began to be reissued on Kindle. Unlike Alexander McCall Smith in his introduction to this novel, I believe no apology need be made for enjoying these books. Thirkell is among a long line of authors who people their novels with characters whose foibles and frailties are exaggerated with gentle purpose and who use good-natured but occasionally sharp wit to comment on the human condition. One thinks of Cervantes, Laurence Sterne, Charles Dickens and Jane Austen and of Anthony Trollope, whose fictive Barsetshire is also the setting for Thirkell's novels, as well as the Lucia novels of E. F. Benson, whom Smith does mention. Thirkell began publishing her novels in the early 1930s and High Rising is set in a gentler time, between the two World Wars. In that sense, one can perhaps understand Smith's reference to Thirkell's fiction as “escapist,“ but her social commentary is no less genuine or insightful for being set in a peaceful world.
9 people found this helpful
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Arietta
4.0 out of 5 stars Slice of life
Reviewed in the United States on June 12, 2019
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The quintessential light novel, High Rising takes us to the home of a novelist widow and her delightfully loquacious young son, railroad-mad, who is only silent in his sleep.

Laura writes potboilers and employs a local woman as her secretary, a woman whose life is consumed by the care of her elderly, dotty mother, and occasionally punctuated by a proposal from a local gentleman, whom she resolutely refuses.

Laura’s life is full, her standing in the village universally esteemed...well, if you don’t count the young secretary of another writer in the village, a widower with a sweet daughter and all the aplomb of a box of old shoes!

But they’re a diverting bunch, and this novel was good company, read out to me by my phone as I accomplished some mundane domestic tasks. Don’t expect anything but a mere whiff of romance, fast-pacing or an even an over-abundance of action; do expect great writing and excellent wit.

It’s truly a snapshot of English village life, set in the 1930s, or so.

Recommended
10 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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5.0 out of 5 stars RAS
Reviewed in France on September 8, 2019
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Damaskcat
5.0 out of 5 stars High Rising
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 1, 2017
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This is the first of Angela Thirkell's Barsetshire novels and it sets the tone for the rest of the series. The plot is slight but the view it presents to the reader of English society at a certain period of history is charming and nostalgic to twenty first century readers. Laura Morland - a very successful author of 'good bad' fiction, divides her time between her London flat and her cottage in the village of High Rising. Laura is a widow with four sons - one of whom - Tony is school age.

Laura's old friend - George Knox - an author of serious books - has just engaged a new secretary. Miss Grey. George's friends are quick to name her the Incubus and are keen to persuade George that she is out to trap him into matrimony. This is a comedy of manners and some of the scenes and descriptions are very funny indeed. I love Laura - she is scatty and charming and far from perfect. She can only put her thoughts in order on paper. George Knox is a bit like a make Miss Bates in Jane Austen's Emma and never stops talking.

I first read this book about fifty years ago. Both my mother and grandmother were Thirkell fans and her novels were freely available to me when I was growing up. I don't think I fully appreciated the humour in them when I first read them. It is good to renew my acquaintance with this author now that the books are appearing again in electronic and audio book formats.
4 people found this helpful
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Jane Farries
5.0 out of 5 stars Thirkell's finest froth.
Reviewed in Canada on January 26, 2017
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Light-hearted, clever and mirth-filled writing. As addictive as it is frothy.
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H.Coope
4.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 18, 2024
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Fascinating picture of middle-class English life in the 1930’s . Entertaining though lightweight about love, work. However, some of that period’s ideas about class and race are Truly Shocking - one passage made my mouth fall open!! I’d recommend if you’d be interested in learning about bygone values thru a novel, not a history text.
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Amazon Customer Anni Davey
3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining and fun to read😊
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 14, 2020
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Entertaining and fun to read
Light and amusing with enough of a twist at the endo make it almost believable.
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