What did it mean? | Collections | The Huntington

What did it mean? | Collections | The Huntington

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Coronation summer : a novel of 1838
Rare Books
The rituals of 19th century courtship, featuring Fanny Harcourt, 17, who is in London for the coronation of Queen Victoria. It is a time of feverish social activity and matchmaking, and the competition is intense.
657413
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Love at all ages
Rare Books
"Angela Thirkell's latest Barsetshire chronicle brings us up to date with the lives of many of the county's favourite older characters as well as introducing some members of a younger generation. That likeable horse-loving young rascal, Giles Foster, who wants to show his elders how to start a pony club and isn't backward in coming forward when the American Duchess of Towers invites him to call her Frankie, is much in evidence, although his father, the Earl of Pomfret, and his uncle, Roddy Wicklow, do their best to curb his exuberance. But the younger generation of Fosters. Mertons and Carters are not allowed to steal the picture. Even Lord and Lady William Harcourt's baby daughter, whose christening is a major event, keeps being whisked away by her nurse, the indomitable Sister Chiffinch, thus leaving some of the limelight to the infant's aunt, Lady Gwendolen, and her engagement and marriage to her old friend and admirer, Mr. Oriel, Vicar of Harefield and hitherto regarded as a confirmed bachelor. Being about 'Love at All Ages', however, adolescent love is given its due place, and as a parallel to the mellower love story of Gwendolen and Mr. Oriel there is a charming portrayal of the calf-love between Ludo, Lord Mellings, and Lavinia, the sixteen-year-old daughter of Sir Noel and Lady Merton (Lydia Keith that was). Old friends like Mrs. Morland, our favourite novelist (who believes we shall be back in the Dark Ages soon); her despotic housekeeper, Stoker (delightful in a passage of arms with the milkman); the Dowager Duchess; Mr. Wickham, the ex-naval land-agent; Dean and Mrs. Crawley; not to forget Jasper, the gipsy horse-coper (and admirer of Giles)--all have their say in the story. 'Love at All Ages' gives us Mrs. Thirkell in excellent form and should win many new devotees for twentieth-century Barsetshire"--From dust jacket.
657417
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The secret garden
Rare Books
A ten-year-old orphan comes to live in a lonely house on the Yorkshire moors and discovers an invalid cousin and the mysteries of a locked garden
113701
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The headmistress : a novel
Rare Books
"The Beltons of Harefield Park, in financial straits endemic to the times, have leased the ancestral home to the Hosier's Girls School whose headmistress, Miss Sparling, a cut above the 'nouveau riche' students, is welcomed into village society. Sam Adams, a wealthy, self-made industrialist, and his lumpish daughter Heather are introduced and we glimpse 'the thin entering wedge' into the solid front of the old gentry. Mixo-Lydians backed by Dr. Perry's wife, and Slavo-Lydians, clients of the mildly obnoxious Mrs. Hunter, barely avoid violent confrontation; it is Mr. Adams who gives short shrift to their belligerent solicitations. And we meet again the bemused Mrs. Updike whose self-battering, as she careens through life, gives new meaning to 'accident-prone.' Miss Sparling reaches an 'understanding' with perennial bachelor Sidney Carton (yes, we know) and strong-willed Elsa Belton is corralled by Capt. Hornsby who declines to be jilted. The poignant relationship between Mrs. Belton and her charming but prickly younger son, Charles, on embarkation leave, cuts through the lightheartedness and brings the war home"--From The Angela Thirkell Society of North America's website.
657412
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Marling Hall : a novel
Rare Books
"As the war continues, the Marlings cope with friends, relatives, and 'outsiders.' The definition of an 'outsider' is a subtle one; the Harveys, a brother and sister who rent a nearby house for the duration seem eminently suited for inclusion. Gradually, however, through a series of misadventures, mostly involving chickens, their landlady, Mrs. Smith (one of the local non-gentry eccentrics) turns out to be 'one of our own.' Utter confusion surrounds building a hen coop, chasing chickens, and futile attempts at foiling Mrs. Smith. Lucy, the younger Marling daughter, barges about noisily managing and mismanaging, but in the end, is sensitive to the growing attachment between her friend Capt. Barclay and her widowed sister Lettice. Miss Bunting (retired governess) and Miss Merriman (companion to the redoubtable Lady Emily Leslie) are instrumental in thwarting the charming but philandering cousin David so as to snare Lettice for Barclay. As an added bonus the Harveys’ housekeeper becomes engaged to the local carpenter and their maid to Ed Pollett, 'immune to education' but an exceptionally competent handyman"--From Angela Thirkell Society of North America's website.
657411
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Before lunch : a novel
Rare Books
"Middle-aged Catherine Middleton, married to an obtuse but endearing older man, is the still center of a swirl of two generations of 'gentry' on the brink of WW II. The activities of youngsters and contemporaries go on around her and it is only gradually that one sees how, without conscious manipulation, nothing happens without her. The characters are subtly and humorously drawn -- keep an eye on the hypochondriac and self-absorbed Miss Starter who displays a shrewd gift for defining the essentials and deflating the fatuous. At the end, youngsters and oldsters are properly sorted out and paired off, mostly as expected, after several false starts. Alistair, the older man who sets off after the 'ingénue' is nudged back into place with Catherine's sister-in-law (his contemporary). She, in turn, sees 'her young man' off to seek his dream, leaving her bereft of the companions of her mind and heart -- duty and honor intact, with the notion of 'self-fulfillment at all costs' decades away."--From Angela Thirkell Society of North America's website.
657409