The Headmistress

by Angela Thirkell

Book Overview

Barsetshire in the latter years of the Second World War is a peaceful and gossipy place, but there has been one lively change. A girls' school, evacuated from London, has taken over Harefield Park. Miss Sparling seems to be the perfect headmistress: she dresses as a headmistress should and is an easy and erudite conversationalist. Her new neighbours like her and her pupils respect her, but there is something missing from her life; something which - though she never dreamt it when she arrived - perhaps Barsetshire can provide...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0349007470
• ISBN13: 9780349007472
• Release Date: January 2017
• Publisher: Virago Press (UK)
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

I coundn't put it down!

Angela Thirkell's books are about famalies living in England during World War 2.She uses fictional characters, set in a fictional country named Barsetshire, to give a realistic account of the conditions people were living under in England during the war. The Headmistress tells about refugees, rationing and shortages, the banner use of uncover bright lights after dark and work parties to make clothing and other necessities for the soldiers and refugees. The main characters are mainly wealthy and/or titled citizens. Although all class are represented through the book. The Headmistress focuses on an old family who, while trying to retain their land and upper class status, have become relaively common financially. This state is referred to as "reduced circumstances." They have rented their estate to a girls' school and moved to the village. This book is like a mild soap opera with a happy ending. It is filled with philosophy and almost entirely composed of conversation about etiquette. It is very British, so if you like that kind of stuff, you will be in heaven.

a thumping good read

I say, Ms Thirkell is sound on logarithms(page 185

The funniest of Ms. Thirkell's many funny books.

THE HEADMISTRESS...When Miss Sparling, a headmistress from a recently evacuated girl's school, moves into the village, she encounters all the problems of village life in wartime Britain. The upper crust Beltons, themselves newly dislocated from the family stately home, must accomodate not only Miss Sparling but the serious problems of the 1940s. Although perhaps the funniest of Thirkell's many funny books, World War II dominates this novel, giving it a greater depth perhaps, than some of Ms Thirkell's other delightful books.