Pomfret Towers by Angela Thirkell

My Angela Thirkell Read-A-Thon, begun last weekend, is at an end with my completion of Pomfret Towers. 

This book has a different tone than the breathlessness of August Folly and Summer Half. The story takes place at a weekend house party hosted by Lord and Lady Pomfret and attended by three sets of brothers and sisters, the heir to the Pomfret estate, an author and her publisher, and other guests thrown in for good measure.

Ms. Thirkell slowly rolls out the story and has a high old time poking fun at the posturings of authors, publishers, and artists. 

Here is an example:

Mr. Bungay is the present representative of the house in Paternoster Row founded some hundred years ago by his great-grandfather. In the middle of last century their most serious rival was the house of Bacon, who made a great hit with three-volume novels by people of fashion, but in 1887 an amalgamation took place, Messrs. Bungay taking over all the assets and liabilities of Messrs. Bacon, together with their copyright in the works of Arthur Pendennis Esq. and other well-known novelists of the day, works for which there is now no sale, and which from lying on twopenny stalls have almost risen to be collector's rarities. The present Mr. Bungay exploits freely every shade of passing political and religious opinion that may help his sales and is said to have the largest turnover in London. He admits freely that he publishes a great deal of rubbish, but he adds that he believes in giving the public what it wants.

The author paints a hilarious portrait of the domineering Mrs. Rivers who writes best-selling books that always feature an older woman married to a cold man who has a romance (not consummated) with some fellow in a foreign setting which Mrs. Rivers describes in such detail that her publishers refer to her (behind her back, of course) as the Baedeker Bitch.

I think it is really best to read Ms. Thirkell's books in order because she name-drops characters from her previous books. Mrs. Morland and her publisher (High Rising) are mentioned in Pomfret Towers as is Lady Emily Leslie (Wild Strawberries) who turns out to be Lord Pomfret's sister. I always feel like I am being let in on an inside joke when I recognize a name from another tale. 

Of course, as usual, all the romances in Pomfret Towers end well and the couples are perfectly matched. But the reader never knows until the end just how all that is going to come together.

Three for the Weekend

A nice long weekend ahead and I plan on finishing up two library books - Pomfret Towers by Angela Thirkell and Bitter Lemons by Lawrence Durrell. And, I downloaded Zoo Time by Howard Jacobson from the library's ebook collection which I hope to begin reading. 

Pomfret Towers is the name of the rather huge country home of Lord Pomfret and his semi-invalid wife. Here is how Ms. T describes it:

This pile, for no less a name is worthy of this vast medley of steep roofs, turrets, gables and chimney stacks, crowned by a Victorian clock tower, took four years to build and is said to have cost its owner first and last as many hundred thousand pounds.

It was computed, she writes, that an under footman might walk ten miles a day in the course of his duties.

Like I said, Huge.

The action takes place during a weekend house party (of which I am so fond). There are three sets of brothers and sisters in attendance: Alice and Guy Barton; Phoebe and Julian Rivers; and Sally and Roddy Wicklow. 

Also among the twenty or so guests is Mr. Foster who will eventually inherit the estate from Lord Pomfret, his uncle. 

The mothers of the first sets of siblings, Mrs. Barton and Mrs. Rivers, are both authors which gives Ms. Thirkell a chance to take a stab or two at writers and publishers and the economics of the book business. 

Alice Barton (age unknown but perhaps a young teenager) is terribly shy to the point of actually being a bit annoying. She has already fallen instantly in love with Julian Rivers who is an artist with dark hair, brooding eyes, and many affectations. 

Mrs. Rivers is the guest to be avoided as she is always trying to organize games for 'the young people' even though the young people are perfectly capable of entertaining themselves. Lord Pomfret is not exactly a warm and welcoming host and his only reason for having the party is to please his wife who for most of the time lives in Florence. 

With Ms. Thirkell's ability to mete out the telling detail, I feel as if I am at the house party myself with its well-set dining room table 
"stretching away to infinity, covered with what looked to Alice like six thousand shining knives and forks and spoons, and more carnations in more silver vases than she had ever seen in her life."

Or having tea in its smaller drawing-room "decorated with green brocade and hung with pictures bought by the sixth earl (father of the present earl) from contemporary artists. The furniture was in the highest style of pre-Raphaelite discomfort; sofas apparently hewn from solid blocks of wood and armchairs suited to no known human frame, both with thin velvet cushions of extreme hardness." 

I won't even try to guess which romances will blossom and wither and which ones will bloom for all time. I will leave that puzzle in the very capable hands of the author.

An Angela Thirkell Read-A-Thon

Angela Thirkell's Barsetshire

I found at the library an omnibus of three of Angela Thirkell's books: August Folly, Summer Half, and Pomfret Towers. Five hundred pages of Our Ms. Thirkell. These are the next, in order of course, of the Barsetshire novels after High Rising and Wild Strawberries which I have read and delighted in.

So I am going to hold my very own Angela Thirkell Read-A-Thon and settle in for a bit of armchair travel to Barsetshire this weekend. 

Note to self - Pick up a couple of cranberry-walnut scones to go with afternoon tea, just to keep your energy up.

I found the following teasers on a website devoted to Ms. Thirkell's books:

August Folly (1936) - Mrs. Palmer stages a Greek play, the actors fall in love, and general misunderstandings and family adventures occur.

Summer Half (1937) - Barsetshire sets the stage for the lovely Rose Pickett and her engagements.

Pomfret Towers (1938) - The Pomfrets and their heir, Gillie Foster, are the centerpiece of this Barsetshire story.

I had better get started! What are you reading this weekend?