The cover is certainly beautiful. And while it's not my favorite of Angela Thirkell's books, it's quite nice and continues to have spots of insight where the reader is inclined to laugh a little and say, "Yup."
Things must have felt awfully rotten in Britain during the first years after WW II. This book, like many of its predecessors, has the air of bravely carrying on and trying not to mind too much about the world changing around you, even though you're mostly sure it's not for the better. But it's not depressing, it's just kind of poignant. Likeable and occasionally loveable characters.