This entry in Thirkell's Barsetshire series is more bittersweet than the previous ones... ( )

4.5*

Wanda McCaddon does a marvelous narration. ( )

It took me a very long time to read this and that is quite inexcusable because it was a delightful romp that should have taken an afternoon but reading life can be an adventure. I really enjoyed this, Thirkell makes characters fun and quirky and very real with just a few strokes and the dialouge and writing is witty and acerbic and then often so thoughtful. I picked this one up from a Little Free Library and will release it back again so someone else can enjoy it.

Mr. Middleton's sister Lilian Stonor and her stepchildren Daphne and Denis are coming to live next door for the summer.
Daphne soon finds herself the object of attentions from two men. C.W. Bond is a neighbor, a young man with extremely suitable prospects in life and good family. Alister Cameron is a much older man who nonetheless finds himself completely taken by Daphne. Stepmother Lilian frets over the situation, certain that Alister is going to get his heart broken. The fact that he is actually closer to her own age and that they are very sympathetic friends has nothing to do with it.
Then there is Denis, a sickly young man with musical talent and a dream of writing a new ballet, but no money to produce it. His kindness to Lord Bond, a slightly henpecked gentleman with a fondness for Gilbert & Sullivan, may just open up some new possibilities for Denis' future. Denis also develops a friendship with Mrs. Middleton, the weary but sympathetic wife of his stepmother's brother. This friendship is a vaguely unsettling vibe in the book, but it is allowed to drop at the end.

Angela Thirkell: I think I've said it before. She falls somewhere in between the traditional and the modern, and her books vary in how recommendable they are to people who love the traditional, old-fashioned stuff.
Also she seems to have some stock characters that kind of get moved from one book to another. The vapid-but-ultimately-intelligent middle-aged woman is one. Also the young, idealistic man who respectfully worships from afar an older, unattainable woman. Also the boisterous, capable young woman who is enthusiastically interested in either A) cows, B) pigs, or C) severe injury and sickness.
Weird stock characters, no?
There are some real laugh-worthy lines in this one, though. ( )

Before Lunch revolves around the social circle of Mr and Mrs Middleton: Mr Middleton’s colleague, Mr Carson; Mr Middleton’s widowed sister and her adult step-children, who are visiting for the summer; and the Bonds over at Staple Park. It has its comedic moments, along with the dinner parties and romantic entanglements that I now expect from Angela Thirkell, but there’s also a more serious tone that I haven’t detected in her other novels.

Catherine Middleton has a deep affection for her autocratic husband, but has no illusions about his weaknesses and the way he depends on her. She has few close friends and is sharply aware that circumstances could take her friends further away from her rather than bring anyone closer.

Meanwhile, Mrs Middleton’s sister-in-law, Lillian Stonor, is worried about her adult stepchildren and their new friends:

For the moment everything looked twisted. Everyone she cared for was in danger. Not ferocious danger, but danger of a little pain, a little disillusionment, a little spiritual hardening. It had looked as if would be a perfect summer, but that was ridiculous to expect. Probably she was worrying and exaggerating quite morbidly. Quite unnecessarily. Better to think of something real, like the [broken] dessert plate, a definite annoyance.

What I appreciated most about Before Lunch was how the story treats these two middle-aged women, their growing friendship and their concerns - and the way their concerns are unspoken. ( )