Summer Half

Mr. Birkett, the headmaster of Southbridge School, must cope with lovesick teachers, high-spirited students, difficult parents, and his dense, but beautiful daughter, Rose.

Reader Review: A boys' boarding school in the English countryside in 1937 is the setting for this charming story of young people finding themselves and each other. Readers have the benefit of hindsight--we know that the bucolic life the characters are living will soon by swallowed up by war and privation. I found that this made the story even more nostalgic. Fans of Angela Thirkell should be sure to read this before going on to her later novels written during the 40's, as the characters recur and are more fully developed.