Ankle Deep: A Novel - Softcover

First published in 1933 and available for the first time in the U.S., Ankle Deep is one of Angela Thirkell's earliest novels. With characteristic civility and sophistication, the author welcomes us into her fictional stretch of English countryside, a magical landscape spirited with good people going about the business of life, irresistibly entertaining in their determination to misunderstand each other. In this case, the charming round of infatuations, endearments, and delightfully comic cross-purposes is set spinning by Fanny Turner whose favorite pastime is endeavoring to provide "a succession of possible brides" for her husband's former school friend, the charming, if not especially eligible, Valentine Ensor. Fanny's exuberant, misguided attempts at matchmaking produce a dizzying tangle of romantic mishaps when holiday guests show up with an attractive--and very married--daughter in tow. Thirkell's stylish prose and generous, yet acutely observant comedy offers a feast of reading that is cultivated, nourishing, refreshing and restorative. Moyer Bell is pleased to add Ankle Deep to its continuing series of Angela Thirkell books.

Angela Thirkell was born in London in 1890. Mrs. Thirkell did not begin writing novels until her return to Britain in 1930; then, for the rest of her life, she produced a new book almost every year until her death in 1961.