Private Enterprise

Amid food shortages and grumbling, Barsetshire is unsettled by the arrival of a pretty war widow in this "delicately humorous [and] entertaining" novel ( The New York Times).
World War II may be over, but its effects linger in the English countryside as the local ladies trade ration coupons for a paltry selection of provisions. It's feeling like a bleak summer-but it won't be a boring one, now that flirtatious young widow Peggy Arbuthnot and her sister-in-law, Effie, are on the scene. Peggy has quite a few admirers-including Noel Merton, which is rather unfortunate for his wife. Suspense reigns over who might win Peggy's hand-and whether the Merton marriage will survive...
"Where Trollope would have been content to arouse a chuckle, [Thirkell] is constantly provoking us to hilarious laughter.... To read her is to get the feeling of knowing Barsetshire folk as well as if one had been born and bred in the county." - Kirkus Reviews