Before Lunch, Angela Thirkell
Before Lunch, Angela Thirkell
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Before Lunch

Author: Angela Thirkell

Narrator: Nadia May

Unabridged: 8 hr 18 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/11/2009

Synopsis

Published in 1939, Before Lunch is a portrait of the charming English community of "Barsetshire." When the erection of a tea shop and garage threatens to spoil the bovine pastures of Pooker's Piece, Lady Bond and Lord Pomfret unite with the Middletons and the Stoners to stop it. In the meantime, the young and the notsoyoung all fall in lovethough not always with the right personand sort out their affairs in a hilarious welter of crosspurposes. For those who have read and reread Austen, Trollope, and Dickens, discovering a novel by Angela Thirkell is akin to finding gold in an abandoned mine. Long out of print, her novels are currently enjoying a minor renaissance.

About Angela Thirkell

Angela Thirkell (1890-1961) was the eldest daughter of John William Mackail, a Scottish classical scholar and civil servant, and Margaret Burne-Jones. Her relatives included the pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones, Rudyard Kipling and Stanley Baldwin, and her grandfather was J. M. Barrie. She was educated in London and Paris, and began publishing articles and stories in the 1920s. In 1931 she brought out her first book, a memoir entitled Three Houses, and in 1933 her comic novel High Rising - set in the fictional county of Barsetshire, borrowed from Trollope - met with great success. She went on to write nearly thirty Barsetshire novels, as well as several further works of fiction and non-fiction. She was twice married and had four children.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Melindam on August 07, 2021

It was underwhelming and slightly colourless compared to the sparkling & witty Pomfret Towers, but a light entertainment, nevertheless.......more

Goodreads review by Emily on January 09, 2018

2.5 My least favorite of the Thirkells I've read thus far, and indeed I found most of the book crushingly boring. It had some charm (I liked the youthful composer of modern music so good naturedly playing Gilbert and Sullivan to old Lord Bond by the hour), but really, so little happened, even by Thir......more

Goodreads review by Mela on November 09, 2022

Yes. It is extraordinary how many things can happen before lunch. This book had/was: --> British charm --> witty dialogues --> wise, observant eye of Angela Thirkell --> smart and funny satire of British society living in countryside --> perfectly chosen and described characters --> unusual, original l......more

Goodreads review by QNPoohBear on August 16, 2017

Mrs. Stoner and her grown step-children, Denis and Daphne have come to spend the summer with Mrs. Stoner's brother, Mrs. Middleton. Mrs. Stoner and her sister-in-law, Catherine (Catherine Middleton!) soon become fast friends. Denis also befriends Mrs. Middleton, whom he believes to be long-suffering......more

Goodreads review by Nikolai on October 20, 2019

Appeared to be very easy to read, simple to understand and straightforward to form an overall picture in the head book about software architecture. A lot of wisdom, good examples, celar structure. This book is good for a wide range of audience. I would even recommend it to managers. It will help to......more

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