Angela Thirkell

Successful lady novelist Laura Morland and her young son Tony set off to spend Christmas at her country home in the sleepy surrounds of High Rising. But Laura's wealthy neighbour George Knox has taken on a scheming secretary whose designs on marriage to her employer threaten the delicate social fabric of the village.

The social minuet of the society of Barsetshire in the 1940's produces a stream of matrimonial fodder, both young and not-so-young.

Angela Thirkell, the cousin of Rudyard Kipling and the granddaughter of celebrated Pre-Raphaelite painter Sir Edward Burne-Jones, was an eminent twentieth century literary figure, and wrote avidly until her death in 1961.

In her beautifully nostalgic memoirs, she recalls in rich detail the three houses in which she grew up and the childhood memories their walls contain. Thirkell's elaborate portraits of the three houses - The Grange in Fulham, 27 Young Street in Kensington Square, and North End House in Rottingdean - offer an invaluable insight into late Victorian life.

Three Houses allows us a snapshot of history from the busy literary centre of London to the English coast. Charmingly expressive, these stunning memoirs are both reminiscent of the golden days of youth and an interesting vision of a writer and the early influences that informed her later work.