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Southern Classics
Three O'Clock Dinner
First published in 1945 to international acclaim and winner of the Southern Authors Award, Three O'Clock Dinner is Josephine Pinckney's best-selling novel about an ill-fated marriage on the eve of World War II. This powerful tale written by a consummate Charleston insider and set in the historic city resonates with universal appeal by daring to touch on topics that had been taboo. Three O'Clock Dinner reveals how the modern world has intruded in a most unwelcome way upon the Redcliffs, a Charleston family long on pedigree but short on cash. Mortified when their son "Tat" elopes with the henna-hairied daughter of the Hessenwinkles, an especially galling bourgeois clan, the Redcliffs are determined to respond with civility. They invite their son, his new wife, and her family for Sunday dinner, served at the traditional time of three in the afternoon. Tension builds across an expanse of white damask. After mint julep aperitifs, dinner claret, and Madeira toasts, a chance remark ignites the novel's climax amid a flurry of raised voices, hurt feelings, and broken china. Their new daughter-in-law's revelation further shatters the Redcliffs' well-ordered society but opens a door to forgiveness and redemption.
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1945
11 people are currently reading
383 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
February 15, 2014
What a delightful novel! I discovered Josephine Pinckney, through Dorethea Benton Frank. She had written about Josephine in her latest novel, "The Last Original WIfe."
Intrigued by her notes about Ms. Pickney, I set out to find her novels. Three O'Clock Dinner is a delicious tale of Southern society in the days leading up to WWII.
The Redcliff's are old money. They are white, Episcopalian and Democrats. The extended family lives in high style all over the city. Aunt Quince and her son Lucian share a house and an acerbic wit.
Wick and Etta live in a lovely home on the Battery, in what was once called "the borough." Judith, their oldest son, Fen's widow, lives down the road, and Tat, the younger son, lives with his parents.
When Tat begins seeing the working class girl on the other side of their garden gate, the tongues begin wagging. The climax comes in a Sunday dinner that is a comedy of manners, and reveals secrets that rock the family.
Intrigued by her notes about Ms. Pickney, I set out to find her novels. Three O'Clock Dinner is a delicious tale of Southern society in the days leading up to WWII.
The Redcliff's are old money. They are white, Episcopalian and Democrats. The extended family lives in high style all over the city. Aunt Quince and her son Lucian share a house and an acerbic wit.
Wick and Etta live in a lovely home on the Battery, in what was once called "the borough." Judith, their oldest son, Fen's widow, lives down the road, and Tat, the younger son, lives with his parents.
When Tat begins seeing the working class girl on the other side of their garden gate, the tongues begin wagging. The climax comes in a Sunday dinner that is a comedy of manners, and reveals secrets that rock the family.
December 12, 2018
I first came across Josephine Pickney in a novel by Dorothea Benton Frank titled The Last Original Wife. The novel set in Charleston spends a significant amount of time in Charleston and on the life and times of Ms. Pickney. Intrigued, I read a biography about her and then decided to read her acclaimed novel that won praise and admiration when it was published.
Quite a novel filled with a narrative expressing the Southern lifestyle and way of living pre WWII.
The novel highlights the story of the Radcliffe's and the Hessenwhite families who lives become interwoven in a spontaneous marriage of Lorena and Tat.
During the three o'clock dinner where the families come together to celebrate the union, a secret is revealed.
I enjoyed the novel although the language at times became a bit cumbersome. I am so glad I stretched myself to read this novel.
Quite a novel filled with a narrative expressing the Southern lifestyle and way of living pre WWII.
The novel highlights the story of the Radcliffe's and the Hessenwhite families who lives become interwoven in a spontaneous marriage of Lorena and Tat.
During the three o'clock dinner where the families come together to celebrate the union, a secret is revealed.
I enjoyed the novel although the language at times became a bit cumbersome. I am so glad I stretched myself to read this novel.
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July 8, 2021Once again, I'm indebted to Harlan Greene (and to Dorothea Benton Frank) for suggesting this title. It took me a while to get used to Josephine Pinckney's style just as it took me a while to acclimatize myself when I moved to Folly Beach in 1985. I kept thinking that the money is the same as we used in Iowa, but other than that, Charleston is a foreign country!! Now that I've finished the novel, I realize I'm really going to be missing these characters. I swear I met several of them during my years in Charleston!
a toddler, "making tentative acquaintance with balance, gravity, and motion."
"They were left behind amid the husks of old years, he and Etta and the house."
"She sat back comfortably and her abundant rear upholstered the spindled arms of the chair with a row of little bulges."
When a difficult, touchy subject is introduced: "'Suppose we talk of something else.' But mother and daughter were too far away to feel the sting of hail, or else their hot contentions melted the ice as it struck."
"... her angle of vision simply didn't include the values that made her acts sinful."
Really a wonderful book!
a toddler, "making tentative acquaintance with balance, gravity, and motion."
"They were left behind amid the husks of old years, he and Etta and the house."
"She sat back comfortably and her abundant rear upholstered the spindled arms of the chair with a row of little bulges."
When a difficult, touchy subject is introduced: "'Suppose we talk of something else.' But mother and daughter were too far away to feel the sting of hail, or else their hot contentions melted the ice as it struck."
"... her angle of vision simply didn't include the values that made her acts sinful."
Really a wonderful book!
September 1, 2014
What a pleasant surprise! A friend, who wasn't at all crazy about this, gave this to me as I'd recommended her after reading a Dorothea Benton Frank book that mentioned her (Thanks for that!). I read, "Great Mischief" and wasn't at all turned on, but this one was everything promised. Great portrayal of life in this part of the country, even mid-century. Pinckney takes into account political, social, and even the natural world. Verbose, and maybe a bit choppy, but so glad I read this. I want to check out "Hilton Head" next, but see that isn't even in Goodreads for review...
January 3, 2017
It took awhile to get into. It might have been the author's way to build up to the climax of the story. Really remarkably well written. A family of blue bloods in Charleston, SC have a family crisis... complete with a storm on the Battery to usher in the climax. Full of trivia about Charleston and the lifestyle / customs of SOB's. Written in 1945. Would read again.
October 19, 2013
How nice to read words penned by another Carolina Girl from so many years ago! Lovely, lyrical words written in a time of pending great change. This book will make your heart happy.
April 11, 2024
Loved this book. Whenever I travel, I like to read books about the region I'm in to get a better understanding of the land and society, and Charleston has had a long cultrual history of manners and social class. I couldn't lay my hands on this book, no bookstore in town had it except the Charleston Historical Society and I think they were charging $35 since it was out of print, being published in 1945. At The Village Booksellter, they suggested I read a local author's book, "In Polite Company," which did fit the bill in terms of drawing a picture of a woman from the "inner circle" trying to break free from the expectations of her caste. Pinckney's book examined at a deeper and wider level the same expectations, but brings together two diverse Charleston families (the established and the immigrant) colliding and the fallout. Pickney's astute observant eye both in characteristics, behavior, personality, environment and dialogue was so impressive, you felt like you were part of the story as well as having an inside view of how everyone was thinking. Even though the book clearly took place in the past, there was an immediacy of it that transcended some of the mannersisms and language. Pinckney is an elegant writer with a sense of irony and humor. She also has a sense of the stunning Charleston historic architecture and the attachments people had to their ancestral homes which is one of the main tourist interests of Charleston:
"At the corner of the piazza, Wick reached out an arm and leaned against a fluted pillar, and the warm wood under his palm brought him back to the house with a sinking sense of loss. For it was a pleasure to his eye, a retreat from a world he found strident, a home place of which the mere wood and plaster were impregnated with the events of his married life and with memories held in the profound unconscious; and it hurt his reasonabel pride that it might become a derelict like so many others about the town, paintless and tenantless. He stared out into the black leaves that closely encompassed this porch; the night wind suddenly drew through the branches with a silky sound like a unison of violins and made him shiver. They were left behind amid the husks of old years, he and Etta and the house."
Of course, this sentimentality begs the question of how those houses were purchased and maintained, but Pinckney's novel does not smack of unaware elitism and examines the changing mores and social structures.
"At the corner of the piazza, Wick reached out an arm and leaned against a fluted pillar, and the warm wood under his palm brought him back to the house with a sinking sense of loss. For it was a pleasure to his eye, a retreat from a world he found strident, a home place of which the mere wood and plaster were impregnated with the events of his married life and with memories held in the profound unconscious; and it hurt his reasonabel pride that it might become a derelict like so many others about the town, paintless and tenantless. He stared out into the black leaves that closely encompassed this porch; the night wind suddenly drew through the branches with a silky sound like a unison of violins and made him shiver. They were left behind amid the husks of old years, he and Etta and the house."
Of course, this sentimentality begs the question of how those houses were purchased and maintained, but Pinckney's novel does not smack of unaware elitism and examines the changing mores and social structures.
August 23, 2017
2.5stars
December 20, 2017
The writing was a bit clunky, but the history in the story was really interesting.
April 10, 2019
Blah blah blah
June 18, 2019
Read for Book Club. Did have a lively discussion of characters!
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August 12, 2010Setin Charleston, written and published in 1945, "produced in compliance with all war production board conservaton orders." It's OK, but there are other things I'd rather read. May finish it sometime.
September 12, 2016
It was a nice story.
January 16, 2015
Barbara Bellow's introduction is better than the book. This fictional account of a way of life that no longer exists is tired and outdated with characters it is difficult to care about.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews