Story summary
Streszczenie książki Poczciwa stara Anna
- 8 min czytania
- 10 parts
- Nagranie wkrótce
On the first day of war, a loyal German cook in a cathedral town starts trading small talk with a grocer.
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Poczciwa stara Anna — najważniejsze informacje
Streszczenie: 8 min czytania
- Czas czytania
- Około 6 h 5 min4 h 50 min fast, 7 h 15 min slow
- Długość
- Liczba słów: 86 900
- Poziom trudności w bibliotece
- Średni longer sentences, everyday words
- Pierwsze wydanie
- 1915by Marie Belloc Lowndes
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). Ile czasu zajmuje przeczytanie klasyków · Zaktualizowano
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Poczciwa stara Anna in short
Good Old Anna follows the first eight months of the First World War in one cathedral town. A German servant, loved by the family she has served for eighteen years, is drawn into the circle of a grocer who flatters her and pays for gossip. Around her, a widow finds love late, her daughter finds it very young, and the town slides from calm into suspicion.
What Poczciwa stara Anna is about
It is August 5, 1914, and England has just declared war on Germany. In the cathedral town of Witanbury, Miss Forsyth asks her old friend Mrs. Otway a pointed question: what will you do about your good old Anna? Anna Bauer is the German cook who has served the house for eighteen years.
Good Old Anna is a novel by Marie Belloc Lowndes, written while the First World War was still under way. It follows one quiet house, a widow, her daughter, a major, a dean and a grocer the town calls the Kaiser. You get the home front in small scenes. And you meet a question that stays with you: what does loyalty cost when the people you trust belong to the enemy's country?
Dla kogo. Readers who enjoy domestic fiction in a cathedral town, home front stories of the First World War, and quiet suspense built from gossip and letters.
The story in 10 parts
Key idea 1 · free to read
War reaches a quiet house through its kitchen
Miss Forsyth advises Mrs. Otway to send Anna Bauer back to Germany. Mrs. Otway answers sharply that Anna is a friend who has served her for eighteen years. The two part on good terms, but the question stays in the air.
That same morning, Mrs. Otway finds Anna sitting at the kitchen table, writing a letter. She looks up and smiles. Then Mrs. Otway tells her that England is at war. Anna sobs and speaks proudly of her father and brother, who fought France in 1870.
Mrs. Otway loves German books and German people, and most of her money sits in a Hamburg loan. Anna, meanwhile, believes Germany will win quickly. She is thrifty to a fault and keeps a secret: a payment that comes from Berlin every six months. Both women feel sure they know where the other stands. When a war divides nations, it tests the trust inside one small house.
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A friendly town begins to watch its Germans
At first, everyone in Witanbury seems kind.
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A grocer offers Anna money and flattery
At the meeting, Hegner leads Anna into a private parlor and turns the key.
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Rose stops Jervis and love begins in a porch
Rose Otway sits in the garden stitching a bedspread when Jervis Blake comes to say goodbye.
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Major Guthrie leaves money and a promise behind
On Friday morning Mrs. Otway is anxious and short of cash, because the banks stay shut.
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Rumor and false comfort fill the Close
In the days after Guthrie leaves, no newspaper mentions troops going abroad.
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Wounded and missing changes a woman for good
Major Guthrie's letter finally arrives from France.
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Letters from the front pass through Anna's hands
In the kitchen, Anna feels left behind.
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Loyalty to country and loyalty to friends collide
The book asks who counts as English.
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The telling is calm, ironic and full of small things
Lowndes tells the story in a calm, almost gossiping voice.
Read all 10 key ideas now
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Characters, plot and themes
Main characters
- Anna Bauer A German cook, thrifty and devoted, who has served the Otway household for eighteen years and keeps a hidden loyalty to Berlin.
- Mary Otway A kind, impulsive widow of forty-three who loves Germany and trusts everyone, and who finds her feelings changed by the war.
- Rose Otway Mary's reserved, clear-sighted daughter, who falls in love with Jervis Blake and learns what the war will ask of her.
- Major Alexander Guthrie A retired soldier and Mrs. Otway's closest friend, who always distrusted Germany and returns to his regiment when the war comes.
- Jervis Blake A big, honest young man who keeps failing his army exams and longs to serve in his father's regiment.
- Manfred Hegner A naturalized German shopkeeper and city councilor, nicknamed the Kaiser, who is eager to win Anna's confidence and change his name.
- Miss Forsyth A shrewd, charitable old friend of Mrs. Otway who says what others will not and organizes war work in Witanbury.
- Dr. Haworth The kindly Dean of Witanbury, who loves German scholars and clings to hopes of a gentlemanly war.
How it ends (spoiler)
Alfred Head is arrested as the master of a spy ring, and his wife Polly is taken too. Anna, terrified by his threats and the thought that she harmed Jervis, hangs herself in her cell. Mr. Hayley brings Rose the news. Out of the dark Market Place comes Jervis, walking alone on his crutch for the first time, and Rose runs into his arms. Mary has already married Major Guthrie.
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Pytania o Poczciwa stara Anna
What is Good Old Anna about?
It follows Anna Bauer, a German servant in an English cathedral town, and the family she serves during the first months of the First World War. It shows love, loyalty and growing suspicion as the war changes daily life.
Who is Anna Bauer in Good Old Anna?
Anna is the cook and former nurse in Mrs. Otway's household, a thrifty widow from Germany. She loves her mistress and young Rose, but she also loves her homeland and an extra shilling, and others notice that.
Why is Manfred Hegner called the Kaiser?
The people of Witanbury give him the nickname because he was born in Germany and has a sharp face, prominent eyes and an upturned mustache like the German Emperor. He later changes his name to Alfred Head.
Is Good Old Anna a true story, and when was it written?
It is fiction by Marie Belloc Lowndes, written while the First World War was under way. The people are invented, but the fears of spies and the worry over Germans living in England reflect real feelings of 1914 and 1915.
Is Good Old Anna easy to read?
Yes is not needed here: the chapters are short, the prose is plain and the scenes are clear, moving between kitchens, gardens, the cathedral and the market. Many readers enjoy the gentle humor and the steady, human pace.
Zacytuj to wydanie
Lowndes, Marie Belloc. Good Old Anna. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/good-old-anna.
Lowndes, M. B. (2026). Good old Anna. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/good-old-anna (Original work published 1915)
Lowndes, Marie Belloc. Good Old Anna. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/good-old-anna.
@book{lowndes2026good,
author = {Lowndes, Marie Belloc},
title = {Good Old Anna},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/good-old-anna},
note = {First published 1915}
}
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