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Barsetshire #27
Close Quarters: A Novel
In the 17th volume of the beloved Barsetshire series, widowed Margot (Phelps) Macfadyen is in search of a house. As she calls on her numerous friends, readers find themselves in the midst of another Thirkellian social whirl. When the dust settles, Teddy Parkinson is installed in his new vicarship, Mavis owns a washing machine, and Tubby Fewling has regained Margot's heart.
277 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1958
11 people are currently reading
171 people want to read
About the author
Angela Thirkell
80Ìýbooks249Ìýfollowers Angela Margaret Mackail was born on January 30, 1890 at 27 Young Street, Kensington Square, London. Her grandfather was Sir Edward Burne-Jones the pre-Raphaelite painter and partner in the design firm of Morris and Company for whom he designed many stained glass windows - seven of which are in St Margaret's Church in Rottingdean, West Sussex. Her grandmother was Georgiana Macdonald, one of a precocious family which included among others, Stanley Baldwin, the Prime Minister, and Rudyard Kipling. Angela's brother, Denis Mackail, was also a prolific and successful novelist. Angela's mother, Margaret Burne-Jones, married John Mackail - an administrator at the Ministry of Education and Professor of Poetry at Oxford University.
Angela married James Campbell McInnes in 1911. James was a professional Baritone and performed at concert halls throughout the UK. In 1912 their first son Graham was born and in 1914 a second son, Colin. A daughter was born in 1917 at the same time her marriage was breaking up. In November 1917 a divorce was granted and Angela and the children went to live with her parents in Pembroke Gardens in London. The child, Mary, died the next year.
Angela then met and married George Lancelot Thirkell in 1918 and in 1920 they traveled on a troop ship to George's hometown in Australia. Their adventures on the "Friedricksruh" are recounted in her Trooper to the Southern Cross published in 1934. In 1921, in Melbourne Australia, her youngest son Lancelot George was born. Angela left Australia in 1929 with 8 year old Lance and never returned. Although living with her parents in London she badly needed to earn a living so she set forth on the difficult road of the professional writer. Her first book, Three Houses, a memoir of her happy childhood was published in 1931 and was an immediate success. The first of her novels set in Trollope's mythical county of Barsetshire was Demon in the House, followed by 28 others, one each year.
Angela also wrote a book of children's stories entitled The Grateful Sparrow using Ludwig Richter's illustrations; a biography of Harriette Wilson, The Fortunes of Harriette; an historical novel, Coronation Summer, an account of the events in London during Queen Victoria's Coronation in 1838; and three semi-autobiographical novels, Ankle Deep and Oh, These Men, These Men and Trooper to the Southern Cross. When Angela died on the 29th of January 1961 she left unfinished the last of her books, Three Score and Ten which was completed by her friend, Caroline LeJeune. Angela is buried in Rottingdean alongside her daughter Mary and her Burne-Jones grandparents.
Angela married James Campbell McInnes in 1911. James was a professional Baritone and performed at concert halls throughout the UK. In 1912 their first son Graham was born and in 1914 a second son, Colin. A daughter was born in 1917 at the same time her marriage was breaking up. In November 1917 a divorce was granted and Angela and the children went to live with her parents in Pembroke Gardens in London. The child, Mary, died the next year.
Angela then met and married George Lancelot Thirkell in 1918 and in 1920 they traveled on a troop ship to George's hometown in Australia. Their adventures on the "Friedricksruh" are recounted in her Trooper to the Southern Cross published in 1934. In 1921, in Melbourne Australia, her youngest son Lancelot George was born. Angela left Australia in 1929 with 8 year old Lance and never returned. Although living with her parents in London she badly needed to earn a living so she set forth on the difficult road of the professional writer. Her first book, Three Houses, a memoir of her happy childhood was published in 1931 and was an immediate success. The first of her novels set in Trollope's mythical county of Barsetshire was Demon in the House, followed by 28 others, one each year.
Angela also wrote a book of children's stories entitled The Grateful Sparrow using Ludwig Richter's illustrations; a biography of Harriette Wilson, The Fortunes of Harriette; an historical novel, Coronation Summer, an account of the events in London during Queen Victoria's Coronation in 1838; and three semi-autobiographical novels, Ankle Deep and Oh, These Men, These Men and Trooper to the Southern Cross. When Angela died on the 29th of January 1961 she left unfinished the last of her books, Three Score and Ten which was completed by her friend, Caroline LeJeune. Angela is buried in Rottingdean alongside her daughter Mary and her Burne-Jones grandparents.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
January 12, 2025
The series is limping along by now with an immense amount of repetition. But I am determined to finish it. It was fun to visit various parts of Barsetshire and see old friends. I do always love to see Mrs Belton. The ending is quite poignant and sweet all at once and Margot’s struggle between duty and desire about her elderly parents is portrayed well. Only two to go!
January 16, 2016
A wander through Barsetshire and because it's been a while since I visited the county, there were lots of references to families, marriages, deaths, quirky events that I didn't quite recall. However, still soothing and pleasant. And just as Sister Chiffinch notes, when there is a crisis, tea is always the answer (I'm paraphrasing but am committed to the philosophy.) Two more before I complete the entire Thirkell oeuvre, which will be a sad day for this reader.
December 14, 2014
'When in doubt the answer's always tea,'
I loved this one which follows Margot recently widowed who stays with various families.
A bygone era of class and manners which I love.
I didn't want it to end.
Highly recommended for pure escapsim on a wet dull December afternoon.
I loved this one which follows Margot recently widowed who stays with various families.
A bygone era of class and manners which I love.
I didn't want it to end.
Highly recommended for pure escapsim on a wet dull December afternoon.
August 6, 2023
A little more nostalgia than usual in Thirkell's Barsetshire series. Many people like Jessie Dean, whom we first met in her perambulator, are highly successful in their chosen careers, and all the women manage a growing family with equal aplomb. Some are set to see their eldest children get married, while others, like Dr. Ford, or the biographer George Knox, or the novelist Mrs Morland never seem to grow older.
Perhaps most appealing is the notion that elderly, plain and obviously unromantic people can find love, not simply once but twice in their humdrum lives. So it is that the key persons in this book are not young, wealthy, titled - and above all, handsome or beautiful, but middle-aged, plain, corseted to camouflage a spreading midsection, but still, with hearts like new-sprung June roses.
There are no complexities of plot, no plot at all, although the last couple of chapters do go a little quicker. After the death of Mr Macfadyen, his widow goes house hunting. Along the way, she meets old friends, and makes new ones as she is invited to tea, to lunch and to dinner, while she stays with one or other of her close friends for a day or a week. The most moving of the series.
There are not so many Trollopian references here, although both Lord Pomfret and Mr Wickham give a complicated account of how various families are linked to each other through the characters in Trollope's novels. No, the confusion here rests rather with Thirkell's own Barsetshire. If you are familiar with some of the earlier books in the series, it helps as a who's who guide, but each novel is a standalone and can be enjoyed by itself.
Perhaps most appealing is the notion that elderly, plain and obviously unromantic people can find love, not simply once but twice in their humdrum lives. So it is that the key persons in this book are not young, wealthy, titled - and above all, handsome or beautiful, but middle-aged, plain, corseted to camouflage a spreading midsection, but still, with hearts like new-sprung June roses.
There are no complexities of plot, no plot at all, although the last couple of chapters do go a little quicker. After the death of Mr Macfadyen, his widow goes house hunting. Along the way, she meets old friends, and makes new ones as she is invited to tea, to lunch and to dinner, while she stays with one or other of her close friends for a day or a week. The most moving of the series.
There are not so many Trollopian references here, although both Lord Pomfret and Mr Wickham give a complicated account of how various families are linked to each other through the characters in Trollope's novels. No, the confusion here rests rather with Thirkell's own Barsetshire. If you are familiar with some of the earlier books in the series, it helps as a who's who guide, but each novel is a standalone and can be enjoyed by itself.
January 30, 2024
Close Quarters is in many ways a wistful novel, owing both to its topics and the palpable sense that the Barsetshire series is nearing its end. Characters we first met as children are now parents and grandparents � whose own parents are nearing the ends of their lives.
Yet the book is also brimming with kindness, with familiar rounds of visits to familiar people in houses old and new. The story is very much Margot’s, in the rotating company of characters from previous books, including the Beltons, Sister Chiffinch, and Dr. Ford. Canon Tubby Fewling is more of a main character, as is the former Rose Fairweather � whose trajectory from flibbertigibbet to wise adult is one of my favorite of Thirkell’s character arcs.
As always, the book concludes with endings as well as beginnings � Thirkell paying homage to Dickens not only in frequent quotations but also in ensuring that each character’s thread is eventually picked up and resolved, even if not until quite a few books later.
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Yet the book is also brimming with kindness, with familiar rounds of visits to familiar people in houses old and new. The story is very much Margot’s, in the rotating company of characters from previous books, including the Beltons, Sister Chiffinch, and Dr. Ford. Canon Tubby Fewling is more of a main character, as is the former Rose Fairweather � whose trajectory from flibbertigibbet to wise adult is one of my favorite of Thirkell’s character arcs.
As always, the book concludes with endings as well as beginnings � Thirkell paying homage to Dickens not only in frequent quotations but also in ensuring that each character’s thread is eventually picked up and resolved, even if not until quite a few books later.
.
December 19, 2022
"Oh, no!" said Angela Thirkell. "I've married off all my eligible young people! And all the older people are either married or not interested! What to do? It's too much trouble to invent new characters. So, I think I'll just kill off one of the husbands so that the wife will be an eligible widow. Now. Who will it be?"
November 23, 2011
Second to last of Thirkell's novels, and not one of her best. Drags and drags. . . central question is really not resolved, the denouement happens in the last two pages (of 277!), and Thirkell's snobbishness is clearer and less charming this time around. Still, a nice book to finish on our first snow day of the 2010-2011 school year!
**Reread CQ, finishing on the day Lyle came home from college for T'giving, 2011: Nov. 23. AND it snowed! So clearly, a good start of winter read. Thirkell does the Admiral's fade from life very well, but again: there. is. no. real. plot. Wonder if she was fading as she wrote it?
**Reread CQ, finishing on the day Lyle came home from college for T'giving, 2011: Nov. 23. AND it snowed! So clearly, a good start of winter read. Thirkell does the Admiral's fade from life very well, but again: there. is. no. real. plot. Wonder if she was fading as she wrote it?
January 1, 2025
Angela Thirkell writes about death so very well, whether from the viewpoint of the one who is approaching their end, or of the loved ones standing by. And I always think her best romances are between middle aged and older people, as in this book. Yes, she repeats old stories so much now at the end of this long series, and almost the end of her life - but somehow I don't mind. As another reader has said, I would hate not to have read it. These lighthearted and thoughtful books are always a bright spot for me. A real comfort, as I believe Angela Thirkell intended her books to be. Every character in the vast cast is well known now and feels like a friend.
July 9, 2012
NOT Moyer Bell version, above. Mine is Hamish Hamilton, hardbound, 1958. I WISH Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ showed other editions!
Good condition, with dust jacket. Bought from Abe Books, June 2012.
Much visiting around by Margot, inc Tubby, Rose, Carters. Re-read, April 27-29, 2012
Good condition, with dust jacket. Bought from Abe Books, June 2012.
Much visiting around by Margot, inc Tubby, Rose, Carters. Re-read, April 27-29, 2012
September 1, 2014
More melancholy than the typical Barshetshire book from Thirkell, this 27th entry in the series returns to Margot Phelps Macfayden. However, we do learn almost in passing that Edith Graham has finally become engaged (and not to her cousin Ludo)...
February 4, 2013
Might as well just read my review of Private Enterprise. All my reviews of this author will read the same. I don't put in spoilers, and the plots aren't really the main delight of these books.
July 24, 2014
A little more melancholy in spots than earlier books, but still admirable
February 26, 2025
This was my least favorite s0 far of the Barsetshire series, maybe because it's a later book (I'm reading these out of order). It seemed very disjointed and repetitive. Her books often have repetitive parts because they are so conversational, and sometimes that can be funny, however in this book it was too excess. Also there was a very uncalled for insult to George Eliot toward the end, so knock a star off for that! There was still plenty to enjoy, and I chuckled out loud a few times, but I need to get back to reading the earlier books.
December 3, 2022
There isn't ever much doubt about who will end up with whom in Thirkell's novels, and by this stage she was apparently suffering from poor health, so it's understandable that the later novels lack the fizz of the early ones.
I have just laid my hands on two of the earlier novels being offered by Kobo at a much more reasonable price than their usual editions, so in due course it will be interesting to backtrack a little and read them out of order.
I have just laid my hands on two of the earlier novels being offered by Kobo at a much more reasonable price than their usual editions, so in due course it will be interesting to backtrack a little and read them out of order.
November 3, 2022
It's been at least a dozen years since I read this one. Very gentle, luckily not too many complaints about the modern world, and old favorite characters - Canon "Tubby" Fewling, the Parkinsons, Wickham, the Carters, Sister Chiffinch, et al. Margot Mcfadyen is widowed early on in the story, but there's hope for her and Tubby at the end. Very pleasant.
August 31, 2023
See my review here:
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