What: Angela Thirkell's Cheerfulness Breaks In joins some familiar characters from previous Barsetshire novels as they face the early days of World War II. The seriousness of the situation is not lost on them, but, as happens, life creeps in anyway.
Comparable to: Angela Thirkell's world is Austen-esque nuanced social comedy for the 1930s and '40s.
Opening lines: "To all those who had admired and disliked the lovely Rose Birkett it appeared (with the greatest respect for the Royal Navy) quite inevitable that she should marry a naval man."
Representative quote: "It was just as well that Rose announced lunch at that moment, or Mr. Needham, who was not accustomed to Mr. Miller's manner of speech, might have gone mad."
You might not like it if: You feel you're being dumped in the deep end and will be flailing about with Mertons and Keiths and Birketts and Needhams and Brandons and Carters and Morlands. (My advice? Just close your eyes and leap. You'll be fine.)
How to get it: Buy it used or borrow it from the library.
Connection to previous Wreckage: If you want a little bit of backstory, Summer Half (Rec. #40) takes place a few years earlier and involves several of the same characters.
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