In August Folly, the village of Worsted is staging Hippolytus. Inevitably, the most absurd romances bloom. Boorish young Richard Tebbins, just down from Oxford, falls in love with Mrs. Dean, mother of nine, whose oldest son loves Richard's sister, who in turn loves another. And round and round it goes. Amidst a series of comic catastrophes, everyone manages to redeem themselves.

Witty, snobbish, sweet, and evocative, Mrs. Thirkell's Barsetshire novels provide a bemused scrutiny of British manners in the most delightfully entertaining doses.