Barsetshire in the war years. Miss Bunting, governess of choice to
generations of Barsetshire aristocracy, has been coaxed out of
retirement by Sir Robert and Lady Fielding to tutor their daughter Anne,
delicate, sixteen years old, and totally lacking in confidence.
When Anne makes friends with Heather Adams, the gauche daughter of a
nouveau riche entrepreneur, her mother is appalled. Miss Bunting,
however, shows an instinctive understanding of the younger generation -
perhaps, having lost so many of her former pupils to the war, she is
more sympathetic to their needs. She may be a part of the old social
order, where everyone knows their place, but is wise enough to realise
that the war has turned everything on its head and nothing will ever be
the same again - even in rural Barsetshire.
First published in 1945, Miss Bunting is a charming social comedy of
village life during the Second World War.