In this wartime episode in Thirkell's saga of the imaginary village of Barsetshire, the highlights include Rose Birkett's wedding, Geraldine Birkett's infatuation with Fritz Gissing, and a romance between Octavia Crawley and Tommy Needham. Noel Merton's marriage to Lydia Keith takes place just before he leaves for the war, and at the end he may be missing after Dunkirk. Reading Angela Thirkell is like visiting dear and valued friends.

" Extremely funny, high-spirited, capricious, delicately malicious, and entirely entertaining ."—New York Times