English county of Barsetshire. Barsetshire was, of course, created by Anthony Trollope for his six Victorian novels about the Church of England. Thirkell adopted it as the locate of her novels which begin in the 1930's and run through the 1950's. Frequently the literary descendants of characters from Trollope's work appear in Thirkell's stories. I didn't notice any in Wild Strawberries, but that doesn't mean they weren't there.
I have realized that I have been reading these novels out of order which isn't a major issue, but isn't the way that I like to do things. So now I have gone back to the beginning and had a hard time getting started on this one. I had begun a number of times, but couldn't get past the first chapter. The story focuses on the Leslie family and I think I was turned off somewhat by Lady Emily Leslie, the matriarch who's approach to life is best described as chaotic. However, once I got past that first chapter, I was, once again, hooked and read it over the course of three nights.
Like all Thirkell novels the only real plot is how the romantic lives of the characters will turn out. This story is a little different than others I have read in that the author does not rely as much on a 2/1 or 3/2 kind of dynamic among the characters. Rather there are an equal number of relationships and, therefore, an equal number of possibilities. Thirkell also does a good job of keeping the character's own views either confused or hidden so that while I thought I knew how things would turn out, it certainly held my attention.
At one level Wild Strawberries can be read as a light comedy of life in the English countryside between the wars. But on another level some of the main characters live with real pain. The Leslies' eldest son was killed in France during World War I, in the book, his son turns 17 reminding his grandparents painfully of their loss. On the day of the birthday party Lady Emily recalls "the vision to which she had so steadfastly barred the way rose before her: her first-born, wandering somewhere beyond life, wanting her, thinking she had forsaken him, not knowing that it was he who had left her to grow old without him." Likewise her second son, John, still mourns the death of his young wife, yet at the same time losing his memory of her because "Time devours everything." This darker side of the character's lives sometimes rests below the surfaces, rarely is front and center, but sometimes intersects with the lighter aspects in a powerful way.
Finally I think Wild Strawberries is what I will now call a "This England" novel. There is a book that I haven't read called - "The Long Weekend, England Between the Wars." To me that implies some combination of trying to recover what was lost during WWI while gradually descending into the abyss of the WWII. I sense that spirit in this book. To her credit Thirkell does this in a way that captures not only "This royal throne of kings," but also "This happy breed of men," (and women) as well as "This earth, this realm." That is it captures the spirit of everything that is England, to the extent that an American can understand that spirit.
I am already looking longingly at the next book, August Folly, I have to figure out a way to blend this kind of book in with my other reading. I also plan to re-read Pomfret Towers and Before Lunch which I read out of sequence, but don't remember. So basically that means there are about 26 to go, when I do finish them, I know I will be disappointed that there aren't any more.
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