The Brandons

Like Barbara Pym, E.F. Benson, and, mother of them all, Jane Austen, Angela Thirkell has created a small world of her own in the English countryside. Calf-love, village affairs, and literary effort are her nominal subjects, while people at their imperfect best are her real subjects.

The Brandons is replete with youthful nonsense and middle-aged folly. People will fall in love with the wrong person, and all are determined to misunderstand each other. The Brandons and their friends and servants are irresistible. This is the gentlest of social satire.