High Rising: A Virago Modern Classic

by Angela Thirkell, Alexander McCall Smith (Introduction)

Overview

Successful lady novelist Laura Morland and her boisterous young son Tony set off to spend Christmas at her country home in the sleepy surrounds of High Rising. But Laura's wealthy friend and neighbour George Knox has taken on a scheming secretary whose designs on marriage to her employer threaten the delicate social fabric of the village. Can clever, practical Laura rescue George from Miss Grey's clutches and, what's more, help his daughter Miss Sibyl Knox to secure her longed-for engagement?

Utterly charming and very funny, High Rising is irresistible comic entertainment.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781405516709
Publisher:	Little, Brown Book Group
Publication date:	11/22/2012
Series:	Virago Modern Classics , #370
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	107,247
File size:	624 KB

About the Author

Angela Thirkell (1890-1961) was the eldest daughter of John William Mackail, a Scottish classical scholar and civil servant, and Margaret Burne-Jones. Her relatives included the pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones, Rudyard Kipling and Stanley Baldwin, and her grandfather was J. M. Barrie. She was educated in London and Paris, and began publishing articles and stories in the 1920s. In 1931 she brought out her first book, a memoir entitled Three Houses, and in 1933 her comic novel High Rising - set in the fictional county of Barsetshire, borrowed from Trollope - met with great success. She went on to write nearly thirty Barsetshire novels, as well as several further works of fiction and non-fiction. She was twice married and had four children.
Alexander McCall Smith is the author of over one hundred books on a wide array of subjects, including the award-winning The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. He is also the author of the Isabel Dalhousie novels and the world's longest-running serial novel, 44 Scotland Street. His books have been translated into forty-six languages. Alexander McCall Smith is Professor Emeritus of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh and holds honorary doctorates from thirteen universities.

Editorial Reviews

Charming, very funny indeed. Angela Thirkell is perhaps the most Pym-like of any twentieth-century author, after Pym herself—Alexander McCall Smith

Appealing—Glasgow Sunday Herald

A smart new edition . . . A terrific holiday story—The Lady

A delightfully entertaining comedy of manners. Full of period charm and witty authorial comment—Good Book Guide

To be so witty and charming yet also so brilliantly brusque and practical as Laura Morland is my new year's resolution—Pippa Wright, author of The Foster Husband

Charming, very funny indeed. Angela Thirkell is perhaps the most Pym-like of any twentieth-century author, after Pym herself.—Alexander McCall Smith

Appealing.—Glasgow Sunday Herald

A smart new edition . . . A terrific holiday story.—The Lady

A delightfully entertaining comedy of manners. Full of period charm and witty authorial comment.—Good Book Guide

To be so witty and charming yet also so brilliantly brusque and practical as Laura Morland is my new year's resolution—Pippa Wright, author of The Foster Husband

From the Publisher