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Title: Not One of Thirkell's Best Efforts
Review: Angela Thirkell's Barsetshire series includes some of my favorite and most often reread books, but this is not one of them. Many of the characters are ones who appeared in "Northbridge Rectory," and the situations in this book are often rehashes of situations from that book set several years later in time ("Northbridge Rectory" takes place during World War II, and this book takes place in 1953, when preparations are being made for Queen Elizabeth II's coronation). The committee scenes are copies of the working party scenes from the earlier book, and none of the characters seems to have changed in the least in 10 years. "Northbridge Rectory" is much more enjoyable. In my opinion, Angela Thirkell was at her best in the books written in the 1930s through about 1946. The later books just don't come up to that standard.
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