Northbridge Rectory

After spending several weeks with the residents of Deerbrook in the 1830's, I made a quick visit over the past few days to the village of Northbridge around 1940-41. Northbridge is an imaginary village in the imaginary county of Bartsetshire, the fertile area of the imagination first cultivated by Anthony Trollope in the 19th century and then by Angela Thirkell in the 20th.

I have read two-three of Thirkell's novels prior to this, but was attracted to this one, once again by Elaine over at Random Jottings. In fact, the book was so attractive that I violated one of my cardinal principles of books in a series - read them in order. Elaine, who has just recently discovered Thirkell, has apparently found it interesting to read them out of order so I thought it was worth a shot. I believe it is correct to say that there is not much at risk in reading Thirkel's chronicles of Barsetshire out of order and while I am glad I did it in this case, I am planning to resume reading them in sequence.

One of the intriguing aspects of Thirkell's 20th century protrayal of Barsetshire is how she works in the locations and characters of Trollopes six novels. Very early in "Northbridge Rectory" we encounter a minor character with the last name Bunce. It sounded very familiar and sure enough a Bunce is one of the primary supporting characters in Trollope's first Barsetshire novel, "The Warden." As a side note, anyone considering reading something by Trollope, "The Warden" is an good place to start, it is a fairly easy read at a very manageable length. By that time the reader will know whether or not he or she is hooked on Trollope, if so then the greater length of the later novels will be a plus, if not, there is no harm done.

I found "Northbridge Rectory" different than the other Thirkell novels I have read. The other ones seemed to focus on the major characters and the major issue or issues fairly quickly. Instead this novel seemed to present a series of vignettes about life in Northbridge early in World War II without any clear focus. This surprised me rather than bothered me and once the focus became clearer, I enjoyed this novel as much, if not more than the others I have read.

Not unlike Jane Austen and/or Trollope, Thirkell sets up a two/one female-male situation at the heart of the book. It is very different, however, in that the characters are not young people in or out of love, but older people with much accumulated history and issues. What appealed to me about this situation was that the ultimate focus was on each of the three people considering and working through what it is they really wanted - especially in the case of the male. These decisions, once made, led to the resolution of the two/one dynamic in a way that was honest and believable or at least it was to me.

As in any Thirkell novel, the book is full of interesting characters all with their quirks. These include Mrs. Spender, one of the most loquacious characters in English fiction, who, in spite of all her talking, really understands what is going on among the other characters in Northbridge. The servants and working class are also highly visible which adds more color and depth to the novel. Two extremely minor characters are the Talbott sisters, two English gentlewomen living with their aged father. Thirkell writes that they live "hard working and blameless lives." Not a bad way to be described.