A brilliant comedy of manners, this book does not depend on a plot, but on the people who make up a small village in wartime, whether it is the former great persons, or the stationmaster, the convalescent service personnel, mostly soldiers billetted on a stately home now requisitioned as a hospital, and their anxieties, loves and hopes during World War II. Utterly hilarious, compassionate, and satirical by turns, this book must be one of the best of Thirkell's Barsetshire series.