Cheerfulness Breaks In

Following the social event of the summer, the marriage of Rose Birkett (the county's scatterbrain heart-breaker), Fall brings WWII. The transition to war introduces unexpected elements into the Barsetshire milieu. Despite the newly somber atmosphere, evacuee children (see Nurse's "lust for power over babies"), nouveau riche migrs (Mr. Gissings' suspiciously shaped head), and the Mixo-Lydians (and their embroideries) afford opportunities for snatching humor from the jaws of bleakness. The Bissells, lower-middle-class heads of a billeted non-U school, share, with the gentry, a mutual bewilderment of values. Mrs. Morland muses on Mrs. Bissell's business-like acceptance of "the sinister implications of Adelina Cottage" shared by Miss Hampton and Miss Bent. The Keith family takes center stage as Lydia cares for the estate and her ailing mother while her friends pursue nursing and other war work. The young men pursue the young ladies and wartime accelerates the usual romantic coupling for a total of five, a record even for Thirkell.