Thirkell in Wartime, 1940–45

Abstract

Thirkell’s first wartime novel, Cheerfulness Breaks In, was published in December 1940, and had sold over 10,000 copies up to February 1941 in its US edition alone.¹ When thinking of a title for Marling Hall two years later (which Thirkell suggested needed something that would say ‘people-living-in-the-country-under-war-conditions-and-carrying-on-through-difficulties-with-cheerfulness-breaking-in’), she considered ‘that the title is not very important by now’.² The establishment of her brand and the frequency of her wartime reprints is quite remarkable considering that the supply of books grew progressively more limited as war went on. When Christina Foyle asked for Growing Up as a Book Edition in 1945, Thirkell’s publisher James Hamilton was glad to have the increased print run using Foyle’s paper allocation.³