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Angela Thirkell
Angela Thirkell
Angela Thirkell
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Angela Margaret Thirkell (/ˈθɜːrkəl/; née Mackail, 30 January 1890 – 29 January 1961) was an English and Australian novelist. She also published one novel, Trooper to Southern Cross, under the pseudonym Leslie Parker.

Key Information

Early life

[edit]

Angela Margaret Mackail was the elder daughter of John William Mackail (1859–1945), a Scottish classical scholar and civil servant from the Isle of Bute who was the Oxford Professor of Poetry from 1906 to 1911.[1] Her mother, Margaret Burne-Jones, was the daughter of the Pre-Raphaelite painter Edward Burne-Jones, and through her, Thirkell was the first cousin once removed of Rudyard Kipling and Stanley Baldwin.[2] Her brother, Denis Mackail (1892–1971), was also a novelist[3] and they had a younger sister, Clare.[4] Angela was tall, "with legs like columns, and large, masculine feet" and she ruled over her younger cousins and siblings, who called her AKB—Angela Knows Best.[5]

Angela Mackail was educated in London at Claude Montefiore's Froebel Institute, then at St Paul's Girls' School, Hammersmith, and in Paris at a finishing school for young ladies.[6]

Marriages and children

[edit]
1915 portrait of Angela McInnes, by John Singer Sargent; charcoal on paper

Soon after her return from Paris, Angela Mackail met James Campbell McInnes (1874–1945), a professional singer, and married him in 1911.[7] Their first son was born in January 1912 and named Graham after McInnes's former lover, Graham Peel.[8] Their second son was the novelist Colin MacInnes.[9] A third child, Mary, was born and died in 1917, and Angela then divorced her husband for adultery, in a blaze of publicity.[10] In December 1918, Angela married George Lancelot Allnut Thirkell (1890–c. 1940),[11] an engineer of her own age originally from Tasmania, and in 1920 they sailed for Australia together with her sons.[12] Their son Lancelot George Thirkell, later Comptroller of the BBC, was born there.[13] The Thirkells led a 'middle-middle-class life'[14] in Melbourne, which to Angela was all deeply unfamiliar and repugnant. So, in November 1929, Angela left her husband without warning, returning to England with Lancelot George, on the pretext of a holiday, but in fact quitting Australia for good.[15]

Lacking money, she begged the fare to London from her godfather, J. M. Barrie, and used the sum intended for her return ticket for two single passages, for herself and her youngest son.[16] She claimed that her parents were aging, and needed her, but she certainly also preferred the more comfortable life available with them in London. Her second son, Colin, followed her to England soon after, but Graham stayed in Melbourne.[17]

Thereafter, her "attitude to any man whom she attracted was summed up in the remark: 'It's very peaceful with no husbands,'" which was quoted by the Observer newspaper in its column 'Sayings of the Week'.[18]

Writing career

[edit]

Thirkell began writing early in her life in Australia, chiefly through the need for money. She published an article in the Cornhill Magazine in 1921, the first of many articles and short stories, including work for Australian radio.[19] On her return to England in 1929, this career continued with journalism, stories for children, and then novels.[20] Her success as a novelist began with her second novel, High Rising (1933).[21] She set most of her novels in Anthony Trollope's Barsetshire, his fictional English county developed in the six novels known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire. An alert reader of contemporary fiction, Thirkell also borrowed freely from little known titles like John Galsworthy's The Country House, from which, for example, she lifted the name 'Worsted' which she used for the village setting of her novel August Folly (1936). She also quoted frequently, without attribution, from novels by Charles Dickens, William Thackeray and Elizabeth Gaskell. Thirkell published a new novel every year, which she referred to in correspondence with her editor, Jamie Hamilton of Hamish Hamilton, as new wine in an old bottle. She was upset that her circle of well educated and upper-middle-class friends thought her novels "too popular"[22] knowing they preferred, as she did, such writers as Gibbon, Austen, Dickens and Proust. She drew the epigraph to T 1951 from Proust: "Les gens du monde se représentent volontiers les livres comme une espèce de cube dont une face est enlevée, si bien que l'auteur se dépêche de 'faire entrer' dedans les personnes qu'il rencontre" ("Society people think that books are a sort of cube, one side of which the author opens the better to insert into it the people he meets.")

Her books of the 1930s in particular had a satiric exuberance, as in Pomfret Towers, which sends up village ways, aristocratic folly and middle-class aspirations. Three Houses (1931, Oxford University Press; repeatedly reprinted) is a short childhood memoir which simultaneously displays Thirkell's precociously finished style, her lifelong melancholy, and her idolisation of her grandfather, Edward Burne-Jones. Trooper to the Southern Cross (1934; republished in 1939 as What Happened on the Boat) "is concerned with the experiences of a number of English and Australian passengers aboard a troop-ship, the Rudolstadt, on their way back to Australia immediately after World War I. It is particularly interesting for its depiction of the Australian 'digger'; his anti-authoritarianism, larrikinism, and, at the same time, his loyalty to those whom he respects".[23] Thirkell's 1936 publication August Folly was chosen the Book Society's Book of the month. This embarrassed her as it seemed to define the book as insufficiently artistic. leading her to write to her publisher that "I can only hope that the financial gain involved will counterbalance the moral degradation."[24]

In the 1940s, her work was coloured by the war. The home front figured particularly in Cheerfulness Breaks In (1940), showing how women saw their loved ones off to the front and Northbridge Rectory, which showed how housewives coped with the annoyances of wartime life. These books include Marling Hall, Growing Up and The Headmistress and provide a vibrant picture of the attitude, struggle and resigned good cheer, of British women during the war. Even a book which did not deal exclusively with the war effort, Miss Bunting, addressed changes in society the war had wrought, as the title character, a governess, grows to middle age and wonders how to live out her life and where her ambitions might take her as the world turns upside down. These books provide a time capsule of the age, which, unfortunately, includes charges of anti-semitism. The Warburg family in Cheerfulness Breaks In has been seen by many as a traditional caricature of Jews.[25] Thirkell grew increasingly conservative with the changes wrought by the war. A review of Private Enterprise (1947) wrote: "In Barchester all is not well/The County People pine and sigh/They wish the government in Hell/And long for happier days gone by/When gloom did not obscure the sky."[26]

Later books in the 1950s became more romantic and less contemporary. Among these, The Old Bank House in particular shows Thirkell concerned with the rise of the merchant class, her prejudices evident but giving way to grudging respect for industriousness and goodhearted generosity. Later books are simpler romances. The romance The Duke's Daughter deals in a way more directly than some of her others with descendants of Trollope's Barsetshire characters. Her final book, Three Score and Ten, was left unfinished at her death but was completed later by C. A. Lejeune. Thirkell showed a keen social sense and a lively eye for the telling detail of everyday life.

Thirkell's works are considered as being in the comedy of manners genre, along with those of Jane Austen.[27] Rachel Mather sees Thirkell, along with E. F. Benson and E. M. Delafield, as being "direct heirs of the Jane Austen tradition.[28] Other critics agree.[29] The comedy in Thirkell's work is sometimes overlooked today, though it was recognized by contemporaries. In reviewing Summer Half, the humor magazine Punch called her "one of the great humorous writers of our time"[30] and Norman Collins wrote of Wild Strawberries that "A hundred one times the reader is rewarded by the radiance of that inner grin which comes from sharing some entirely malicious piece of social observation that any man, and most women, would have missed completely.[31] P.G. Wodehouse, the pre-eminent English humorist of her era, praised Wild Strawberries and Pomfret Towers.[32]

Selected books

[edit]

Barsetshire Chronicles

[edit]
  • High Rising (1933)
  • Wild Strawberries (1934)
  • The Demon in the House (1934)
  • August Folly (1936)
  • Summer Half (1937)
  • Pomfret Towers (1938)
  • The Brandons (1939)
  • Before Lunch (1939/1940)
  • Cheerfulness Breaks In (1940)
  • Northbridge Rectory (1941)
  • Marling Hall (1942)
  • Growing Up (1943)
  • The Headmistress (1944)
  • Miss Bunting (1945)
  • Peace Breaks Out (1946)
  • Private Enterprise (1947)
  • Love Among the Ruins (1948)
  • The Old Bank House (1949)
  • County Chronicle (1950)
  • The Duke's Daughter (1951)
  • Happy Returns (1952)
  • Jutland Cottage (1953)
  • What Did It Mean? (1954)
  • Enter Sir Robert (1955)
  • Never Too Late (1956)
  • A Double Affair (1957)
  • Close Quarters (1958)
  • Love at All Ages (1959)
  • Three Score and Ten (1961)

Other books

[edit]
  • Ankle Deep (1931)
  • Three Houses (1931); reprint. 1998. ISBN 1-55921-215-2.[33][34]
  • Trooper to the Southern Cross (1934; republished as What Happened on the Boat)
  • O These Men, These Men! (1935)
  • The Grateful Sparrow (1935)
  • The Fortunes of Harriet (1936)
  • Coronation Summer (1937)

References

[edit]

Further reading

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Angela Thirkell

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia

Angela Margaret Thirkell (30 January 1890 – 29 January 1961) was a British novelist celebrated for her Barsetshire series of over 30 lighthearted yet incisive novels that chronicled the social fabric, family dynamics, and romantic entanglements of England's provincial middle and upper classes from the 1930s through the post-war era. Drawing inspiration from Anthony Trollope's earlier Barsetshire chronicles, her works, beginning with High Rising in 1933, offered sympathetic satirical portraits of county society, blending humor with keen observations of class distinctions and everyday absurdities, and achieving widespread popularity, particularly in the United States. Born Angela Margaret Mackail in , , into a family steeped in literary and artistic distinction—her father was the Oxford classicist J. W. Mackail, her mother Margaret the daughter of Pre-Raphaelite painter , and relatives included and —Thirkell enjoyed an idyllic Edwardian childhood marked by intellectual stimulation and cultural privilege. Educated at progressive institutions like the Froebel Institute and later in and , she married singer James Campbell McInnes in 1911, bearing two sons before their divorce; in 1918, she wed George Lancelot Thirkell, with whom she had a third son and relocated to from 1920 to 1927, an experience that prompted her initial forays into writing satirical essays and short stories to support her family. Returning permanently to in 1930, she honed her craft in depicting the comforts and constraints of English country life, informed by first-hand knowledge of both metropolitan and rural spheres. Thirkell's prolific output, totaling 36 books including one pseudonymously published Australian novel Trooper to the Southern Cross as Leslie Parker, reflected her conservative worldview and fondness for tradition amid modern upheavals, with her narratives often weaving in historical events like the crisis and without descending into overt propaganda. Though unadorned by formal literary prizes, her enduring appeal lies in the vivid recreation of a vanishing , earning her a dedicated readership and the establishment of the Angela Thirkell Society in 1980 to champion her legacy.

Biography

Early Life and Family Background

Angela Margaret Mackail was born on 30 January 1890 in , , to John William Mackail, a Scottish classical scholar and professor of poetry at Oxford University, and Margaret Mackail (née Burne-Jones), an artist and craftswoman. Her parents' marriage connected her to prominent artistic and literary circles; her mother was the daughter of the Pre-Raphaelite painter Sir and his wife Georgiana Macdonald, whose siblings' descendants included and Prime Minister . The Mackails resided initially in , where Angela grew up amid an intellectually stimulating environment shaped by her father's academic pursuits and her mother's artistic heritage. She was the elder of two children, with a younger brother, Denis Mackail, who later became a known for works such as Greenery Street. The family spent time in both and , reflecting her father's professional life, and Angela maintained a lifelong admiration for her grandfather Burne-Jones, whose home, The Grange in , influenced her early exposure to creative and bohemian influences within the Pre-Raphaelite orbit. This privileged, culturally rich upbringing, marked by connections to literary figures like Kipling—whose mother was Georgiana's sister—fostered her interest in writing from a young age, though she received a conventional education suited to her .

Marriages, Children, and Personal Challenges

In 1911, Angela Mackail married James Campbell McInnes, a professional singer known for his bisexual orientation and . The couple had three children: Graham McInnes, born in January 1912; , born in 1914; and a daughter, Mary, who died in infancy. The marriage deteriorated due to McInnes's abusive behavior, culminating in a highly publicized in 1917 granted on grounds of and , with Thirkell receiving custody of the surviving children. In December 1918, Thirkell married George Lancelot "Thirk" Thirkell, an Australian civil engineer and veteran from a Tasmanian landowning family. The couple relocated to , , in 1919, where their son was born in 1921. Financial strain intensified during the , as Thirkell's engineering business collapsed, prompting Thirkell to separate from her husband in 1929; she borrowed funds to return to alone with Lance, leaving behind a life she had come to resent in . Thirkell's personal life was marked by profound challenges, including the early of her daughter, the emotional and social fallout from two failed marriages amid early 20th-century norms that stigmatized , and economic hardships that necessitated her writing career for survival upon returning to . Her three sons—Graham, Colin, and Lance McInnes—all pursued writing, though their paths diverged from her own conservative sensibilities, with Colin notably embracing bohemian lifestyles.

Later Years and Death

In the years following , Thirkell resided primarily in , , where she maintained her routine of prolific writing, producing novels that critiqued the social changes under post-1945 Labour governments while preserving her characteristic portrayals of upper-middle-class English life. Her output remained steady, with works such as Love at All Ages published in 1959, emphasizing romantic elements over contemporary events amid a shifting Britain. These later Barsetshire novels sustained her reputation as a reliable seller, particularly , though they increasingly focused on nostalgic themes rather than postwar realities. Thirkell's health appears to have declined in her final years, leading to her residence in a nursing home in Bramley, Surrey, though some reports describe her death occurring at home. She died on 29 January 1961, one day before her 71st birthday. Her estate was valued at £74,656. Thirkell was buried in St. Margaret's Churchyard, Rottingdean, East Sussex, alongside the grave of her infant daughter who had died in 1917.

Literary Career

Entry into Writing and Early Publications

Following her separation from her second husband and return to England from Australia in 1929, Thirkell pursued writing primarily for financial necessity, having previously contributed satirical essays and short stories to Melbourne periodicals during her years abroad (1911–1929) to supplement her income. Her debut book, the memoir Three Houses (1931), published by , evoked her Victorian-era childhood across three family homes associated with her parents, cousin , and grandfather ; it sold well and established her as a publishable author. Thirkell's transition to fiction came swiftly with Ankle Deep (1933), a non-series depicting romantic entanglements in an English village, which reflected her emerging style of light social comedy but received mixed reviews for its uneven plotting compared to her later works. That same year, she published High Rising, introducing the fictional Barsetshire setting inspired by , marking her entry into serialized county novels amid the interwar period's demand for escapist literature. These early efforts, produced at age 43, capitalized on her literary lineage—daughter of classicist J. W. Mackail and granddaughter of Pre-Raphaelite artist Burne-Jones—while prioritizing marketable, observational prose over experimental forms.

The Barsetshire Series

Thirkell's Barsetshire series comprises 29 novels published between 1933 and 1961, forming the core of her literary output and depicting interconnected families in the fictional English county of Barsetshire. The series draws directly from Anthony Trollope's 19th-century , reusing the county's geography, institutions like the of Barchester, and occasional descendants of Trollope's clergy and gentry characters, while introducing new social dynamics suited to the . Thirkell began the sequence with High Rising in 1933, which introduces protagonists like the widowed novelist Laura Morland navigating professional and domestic life amid provincial society. Subsequent volumes, released nearly annually, expand the canvas to include events from the interwar leisure class to wartime rationing and postwar reconstruction, with recurring motifs of matchmaking, class tensions, and clerical intrigue. The novels maintain continuity through shared characters and locales, such as the Rushwater estate of the fictional earls or the Pomfret family line, allowing Thirkell to chronicle generational shifts in Barsetshire's upper-middle and aristocratic circles. Early entries like Wild Strawberries (1934) and Pomfret Towers (1938) emphasize light , poking fun at idle , ambitious mothers, and intellectual pretensions, often resolved through marriages that reinforce social stability. As approached, works such as Cheerfulness Breaks In (1940) and Marling Hall (1942) incorporate evacuation, blackouts, and military postings, reflecting empirical disruptions to rural routines without overt propaganda. Postwar titles, including Private Enterprise (1947) and The Ducks' Dernier Cri (1957), address economic stringency, the , and fading traditions, with characters adapting to Labour government policies and suburban encroachment on agrarian life. Thirkell's approach privileges observational realism over plot-driven drama, grounding narratives in verifiable period details like the 1936 abdication crisis in Summer Half (1937) or celebrations in later volumes. The series eschews Trollope's denser political subplots for domestic satire, yet sustains causal links between personal fortunes and broader historical forces, such as how war accelerates for some families while eroding others' privileges. By her death in , the final book, County Chronicle, had appeared posthumously, capping a chronicle that spans nearly three decades of English provincial evolution.

Other Works and Pseudonyms

In addition to the Barsetshire series, Thirkell published several standalone novels and other writings early in her career. Her debut novel, Ankle Deep (1933), is a depicting mishaps in the English countryside among upper-middle-class characters. She followed with O, These Men, These Men! (1935), a story of a widow navigating social expectations and romantic prospects in pre-World War II society. That same year, she produced The Grateful Sparrow and Other Tales (1935), a collection of children's stories translated from by the and , featuring illustrations by Ludwig Richter. Other efforts included Three Houses (1931), a recounting her childhood homes, and The Fortunes of Harriette (1936), a historical account of courtesan Wilson's life. She also contributed short stories to periodicals in Britain and . Thirkell employed the pseudonym Leslie Parker for one work: Trooper to the Southern Cross (1934), a semi-autobiographical of her sea voyage to amid personal hardships, including her failing marriage. Originally issued under the male to appeal to adventure-reading audiences, it was republished under her own name in 1985. No other pseudonyms are recorded in her .

Themes, Style, and Reception

Social Observations and Conservative Perspectives

Thirkell's Barsetshire novels depict English provincial society with a strong emphasis on hierarchical class structures, where deviations from established social codes invite ridicule or misfortune, reflecting her belief that and peasantry thrive best in their traditional roles. Her characters often express disdain for upward that disrupts these norms, such as ambitious interlopers or women who flout conventions by pursuing careers over marriage, which she portrayed as leading to personal dissatisfaction or comedic downfall. This perspective aligns with her broader conservative outlook, prioritizing continuity of customs and manners over egalitarian reforms, as seen in recurring praise for and criticism of "new money" pretensions. Politically, Thirkell infused her works with sympathies, with protagonists like Mr. Chaldicott in County Chronicle (1950) defying party lines to vote Conservative on principle, underscoring a preference for individual moral judgment rooted in tradition rather than collectivist policies. Postwar novels, such as Private Enterprise (1947), subtly critique the Labour government's social experiments, portraying and state interventions as erosions of private enterprise and genteel living, while idealizing prewar . Her aversion to extended to cultural shifts, with snobbish barbs at intellectual fads, , and bohemian excesses, favoring instead the stability of Etonian-influenced hierarchies and rural Anglican virtues. Gender roles in Thirkell's fiction reinforce conservative ideals, where women's fulfillment derives from domestic harmony and matrimony to socially compatible men, often older and authoritative figures who embody rational dominance; ambitious or "unfeminine" pursuits, like , are lampooned as disruptive. Ethnic and outsider elements appear through lenses of assimilation to British norms, with characters upholding imperial-era values of propriety over multicultural flux. Though occasionally mean-spirited toward figures like effeminate intellectuals—contrasting her warmth for dutiful spinsters—her social satire ultimately affirms a cohesive, mannered order against perceived societal decline. This stance, unapologetic in its snobbery, sidesteps wartime or economic upheavals to preserve an idyllic, virtue-bound .

Literary Style and Commercial Appeal

Thirkell's novels employ a style of light satirical centered on domestic conversations, social , and romantic resolutions, often featuring recurring characters in the fictional Barsetshire engaging in tea-time chatter and everyday absurdities. This approach produced nearly one book annually from 1933 until her death in 1961, with 29 volumes in the series emphasizing emotional consistency and comic predictability over deeper societal critiques. Unlike Anthony Trollope's originals, which delved into ecclesiastical politics, financial intrigue, and power dynamics, Thirkell's works sidelined such elements in favor of narratives culminating in engagements, reflecting a focus on personal affections amid a vanishing rural English order. Her , described as verbose and somewhat artificial, maintains an engaging through brusque judgments tempered by tolerance, incorporating "applied " where characters reference shared readings to advance plots or reveal traits. This gently wicked wit, rooted in conservative observations of manners and virtue, eschewed while chronicling interwar and social shifts, from pre-World War II gentility to austerity-era adaptations. Commercially, Thirkell's debut memoir Three Houses (1931), published by , achieved immediate success, paving the way for her fiction's steady sales across three decades. Her Barsetshire novels emerged as bestselling "comfort reads" from to the 1950s, appealing to readers via escapist reassurances, humorous gossip, and depictions of resilient, likeable protagonists navigating minor crises without enduring tragedy. This formula—unpretentious, plot-driven tales of "nice girls" pairing with "pleasant young men"—sustained popularity by offering simple pleasures and a comic bulwark against real-world upheavals, though her output's volume and modest literary ambitions drew postwar diminishment in critical esteem.

Criticisms and Modern Assessments

Thirkell's novels have been criticized for their pronounced class snobbery, with upper-middle-class characters often idealized while lower-class figures are portrayed as simplistic or infantilized, reflecting a hierarchical worldview that prioritizes traditional English social structures. This perspective aligns with her expressed belief that society was declining, valuing nobility and peasantry in fixed roles over modern egalitarianism. A recurring point of contention is the presence of casual , including stereotypes of Jewish characters as greedy or intrusive, as seen in High Rising (1933) where the publisher Mr. Goldstein embodies such tropes, and Cheerfulness Breaks In (1940) where an originally named character evokes wartime prejudices. These elements, while typical of mid-20th-century British upper-class attitudes amid rising European tensions, jar modern sensibilities and underscore her unapologetic . Other critiques target her narrative style as rambling and inconsistent, particularly in later Barsetshire volumes where plot threads meander and character continuity falters, diminishing structural rigor despite consistent wit. Xenophobic undertones also appear, as in Wild Strawberries (1934), where foreign elements are treated with suspicion, compounding perceptions of insularity. In modern reassessments, Thirkell's oeuvre enjoys a niche revival through Virago Press reissues since the , valued by readers for acute social satire and escapist charm amid wartime , yet tempered by acknowledgments of her biases as products of era-specific prejudices rather than excusable flaws. Literary bloggers and reviewers in the – praise her observational acuity on domestic absurdities but caution against uncritical consumption, positioning her as a dependable but limited chronicler of pre-war gentility whose snobbery reveals more about interwar anxieties than universal truths. Her enduring appeal lies in this very specificity, appealing to those seeking unvarnished depictions of conservative English life, though broader academic dismissal persists due to perceived superficiality.

Legacy and Enduring Influence

Thirkell's Barsetshire novels, numbering over 30 and spanning from High Rising in 1933 to Three Score and Ten in 1961, have maintained a dedicated readership through reprints by publishers such as Modern Classics, which reissued wartime volumes like Before Lunch (1939) and Peace Breaks Out (1946) to capture the experience with satirical depth. These editions highlight her annual output from the 1930s to 1960, which sold widely during for boosting public morale, as noted by contemporaries like , who deemed her a "public benefactor" for chronicling English country resilience. The Angela Thirkell Society, established in 1980 by Diana McFarlan with a North American branch, fosters ongoing appreciation through annual meetings, global membership, and affiliation with the Alliance of Literary Societies, underscoring her works' value as a witty record of interwar and postwar social life. Literary figures such as have emphasized their historical significance in depicting class dynamics and daily absurdities, while has lauded her "coruscating wit" in blending Trollope's Barsetshire framework with Austen-esque comedy. In modern contexts, Thirkell's conservative portrayals of tradition, snobbery, and domestic stability resonate as escapist comfort reading, particularly amid disruptions like the , where her novels' emphasis on community endurance and light provided nostalgic relief from contemporary upheaval. Though not a dominant influence on mainstream , her unapologetic focus on middle- and upper-class provincial —resisting modernist experimentation—has sustained a niche legacy among readers seeking unvarnished depictions of pre-1960s British , with many titles remaining in print for their enduring commercial appeal over critical acclaim.

References

  1. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/thirkell-angela-margaret-8777
  2. https://angela-thirkell.com/
  3. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Angela-Margaret-Thirkell
  4. https://angela-thirkell.com/angela-thirkell-and-family/
  5. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/angela-thirkell
  6. https://callmemadam.livejournal.com/725226.html
  7. https://www.nytimes.com/1961/01/30/archives/angela-thirkell-novelist-dies-wrote-of-british-upper-class-author.html
  8. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/21570880/angela-margaret-thirkell
  9. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/835439.Ankle_Deep
  10. https://katemacdonald.net/2025/03/21/angela-thirkell-high-rising/
  11. https://earlybirdbooks.com/angela-thirkell-books-in-order-barsetshire
  12. https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/angela-thirkell/
  13. https://www.fantasticfiction.com/t/angela-thirkell/barsetshire/
  14. https://www.goodreads.com/series/78007-barsetshire
  15. https://www.fantasticfiction.com/t/angela-thirkell/ankle-deep.htm
  16. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/835441.O_These_Men_These_Men
  17. https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Grateful_Sparrow_and_Other_Tales.html?id=c8s8PAAACAAJ
  18. https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/thirkell-angela-1890-1961
  19. https://www.fantasticfiction.com/t/angela-thirkell/
  20. https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/angela-thirkell-book-review-biography-a-novelists-comic-conservative-vision-11647013260
  21. https://allisonthompson.blog/2021/08/22/angela-thirkell-and-welcome-to-barsetshire/
  22. https://mirabiledictu.org/2013/04/28/angela-thirkell-snobbery-the-war-the-delectable-private-enterprise/
  23. https://reading19001950.wordpress.com/tag/angela-thirkell/
  24. https://dokumen.pub/novelists-against-social-change-conservative-popular-fiction-19201960-1st-ed-978-1-137-45771-4-978-1-137-45772-1.html
  25. https://www.amazon.com/Ethnicity-Gender-Barsetshire-Novels-Thirkell/dp/0313309159
  26. https://katemacdonald.net/2015/05/22/the-loucheness-of-the-conservative-novelist-angela-thirkell-writes-about-camp/
  27. https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%257CA667422538&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=0307661X&p=AONE&sw=w
  28. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/04/opinion/04fri3.html
  29. https://mirabiledictu.org/2013/01/16/angela-thirkells-high-rising/
  30. https://northernreader.wordpress.com/2021/03/15/angela-thirkell-a-writers-life-by-anne-hall-a-biography-of-a-woman-of-wit-and-letters/
  31. https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2020/09/04/growing-up-angela-thirkell-1943/
  32. https://reading19001950.wordpress.com/2018/05/31/cheerfulness-breaks-in-1940-by-angela-thirkell/
  33. https://tredynasdays.co.uk/2018/10/angela-thirkell-high-rising/
  34. https://desperatereader.blogspot.com/2017/07/cheerfulness-breaks-in-angela-thirkell.html
  35. https://bookaroundthecorner.com/2023/10/22/last-billet-about-my-summer-reads-craig-johnson-angela-thirkell-and-ross-mcdonald/
  36. https://thecaptivereader.com/2011/04/18/a-surfeit-of-thirkell/
  37. https://tredynasdays.co.uk/2019/08/angela-thirkell-wild-strawberries/
  38. https://www.hachette.co.uk/virago-news/2016/05/05/discover-angela-thirkell/
  39. https://thecaptivereader.com/2014/09/28/cheerfulness-breaks-in-angela-thirkell/
  40. https://neglectedbooks.com/?tag=criticism
  41. https://www.virago.co.uk/virago-news/2016/05/05/discover-angela-thirkell/
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