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Barsetshire #7
The Brandons
This is one of Angela Thirkell's 13 novels set in Trollope's Barsetshire, and peopled with characters from the upper crust of society to the tyrants behind the green baize doors and the miscreants of Grumper's end. Here are the beautiful Mrs Brandon (before whom even the vicar blushes and stammers), fierce Aunt Sissie, the Italy-addicted Mrs Grant and many others. Old and young fall into a hopeless tangle, not unravelled until after the antics of the vicarage fete.
358 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1939
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About the author
Angela Thirkell
58 books258 followers Angela Margaret Mackail was born on January 30, 1890 at 27 Young Street, Kensington Square, London. Her grandfather was Sir Edward Burne-Jones the pre-Raphaelite painter and partner in the design firm of Morris and Company for whom he designed many stained glass windows - seven of which are in St Margaret's Church in Rottingdean, West Sussex. Her grandmother was Georgiana Macdonald, one of a precocious family which included among others, Stanley Baldwin, the Prime Minister, and Rudyard Kipling. Angela's brother, Denis Mackail, was also a prolific and successful novelist. Angela's mother, Margaret Burne-Jones, married John Mackail - an administrator at the Ministry of Education and Professor of Poetry at Oxford University.
Angela married James Campbell McInnes in 1911. James was a professional Baritone and performed at concert halls throughout the UK. In 1912 their first son Graham was born and in 1914 a second son, Colin. A daughter was born in 1917 at the same time her marriage was breaking up. In November 1917 a divorce was granted and Angela and the children went to live with her parents in Pembroke Gardens in London. The child, Mary, died the next year.
Angela then met and married George Lancelot Thirkell in 1918 and in 1920 they traveled on a troop ship to George's hometown in Australia. Their adventures on the "Friedricksruh" are recounted in her Trooper to the Southern Cross published in 1934. In 1921, in Melbourne Australia, her youngest son Lancelot George was born. Angela left Australia in 1929 with 8 year old Lance and never returned. Although living with her parents in London she badly needed to earn a living so she set forth on the difficult road of the professional writer. Her first book, Three Houses, a memoir of her happy childhood was published in 1931 and was an immediate success. The first of her novels set in Trollope's mythical county of Barsetshire was Demon in the House, followed by 28 others, one each year.
Angela also wrote a book of children's stories entitled The Grateful Sparrow using Ludwig Richter's illustrations; a biography of Harriette Wilson, The Fortunes of Harriette; an historical novel, Coronation Summer, an account of the events in London during Queen Victoria's Coronation in 1838; and three semi-autobiographical novels, Ankle Deep and Oh, These Men, These Men and Trooper to the Southern Cross. When Angela died on the 29th of January 1961 she left unfinished the last of her books, Three Score and Ten which was completed by her friend, Caroline LeJeune. Angela is buried in Rottingdean alongside her daughter Mary and her Burne-Jones grandparents.
Angela married James Campbell McInnes in 1911. James was a professional Baritone and performed at concert halls throughout the UK. In 1912 their first son Graham was born and in 1914 a second son, Colin. A daughter was born in 1917 at the same time her marriage was breaking up. In November 1917 a divorce was granted and Angela and the children went to live with her parents in Pembroke Gardens in London. The child, Mary, died the next year.
Angela then met and married George Lancelot Thirkell in 1918 and in 1920 they traveled on a troop ship to George's hometown in Australia. Their adventures on the "Friedricksruh" are recounted in her Trooper to the Southern Cross published in 1934. In 1921, in Melbourne Australia, her youngest son Lancelot George was born. Angela left Australia in 1929 with 8 year old Lance and never returned. Although living with her parents in London she badly needed to earn a living so she set forth on the difficult road of the professional writer. Her first book, Three Houses, a memoir of her happy childhood was published in 1931 and was an immediate success. The first of her novels set in Trollope's mythical county of Barsetshire was Demon in the House, followed by 28 others, one each year.
Angela also wrote a book of children's stories entitled The Grateful Sparrow using Ludwig Richter's illustrations; a biography of Harriette Wilson, The Fortunes of Harriette; an historical novel, Coronation Summer, an account of the events in London during Queen Victoria's Coronation in 1838; and three semi-autobiographical novels, Ankle Deep and Oh, These Men, These Men and Trooper to the Southern Cross. When Angela died on the 29th of January 1961 she left unfinished the last of her books, Three Score and Ten which was completed by her friend, Caroline LeJeune. Angela is buried in Rottingdean alongside her daughter Mary and her Burne-Jones grandparents.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 121 reviews
July 1, 2023
4.5★
I acquired this book from Faded Page & this charming cover is what they used. I'm delighted to use it here.
Read With Retro Reads Group & this definitely has increased my enjoyment by half a ★!
Other members have picked up on things I missed, as at the start of the book, I was wondering if I had reached the end of my Thirkell tolerance. Certainly, unlike the males in this book, I found Mrs Brandon more tiresome than charming & irresistible!
But there was the welcome return of my old friend Tony, a hilarious send up of a Golden Age of mystery trope, I really loved secondary character Miss Morris & above all The Fête! My low mind was just howling when they were but The Fête was altogether delightful!
Special mention should go to Mrs Grant. There is a Certain Sort of Traveler that remains timeless - & Mrs Grant is a worthy representative of that species.
So far, my favourite Thirkell. & since this is a Thirkell this isn't a spoiler - everyone got the ending they deserved!
I acquired this book from Faded Page & this charming cover is what they used. I'm delighted to use it here.
Read With Retro Reads Group & this definitely has increased my enjoyment by half a ★!
Other members have picked up on things I missed, as at the start of the book, I was wondering if I had reached the end of my Thirkell tolerance. Certainly, unlike the males in this book, I found Mrs Brandon more tiresome than charming & irresistible!
But there was the welcome return of my old friend Tony, a hilarious send up of a Golden Age of mystery trope, I really loved secondary character Miss Morris & above all The Fête! My low mind was just howling when they were but The Fête was altogether delightful!
Special mention should go to Mrs Grant. There is a Certain Sort of Traveler that remains timeless - & Mrs Grant is a worthy representative of that species.
So far, my favourite Thirkell. & since this is a Thirkell this isn't a spoiler - everyone got the ending they deserved!
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September 21, 2023
Rounding my rating up to 4,5 stars upon rereading/re-listening to this delightfully breezy and ironic book, especially after recently reading Book 2 (Wild Strawberries) in the Barsetshire series which I found lacklustre and altogether weak.
I have only read 5 books from the series in a haphazard order and I find that it's better to leave some time between them. It lets you appreciate more the rehashing of characters and their behaviour in all these books, which would be just too much of a good thing otherwise.
It is a delightful, breezy summer read.
I have only read 5 books from the series in a haphazard order and I find that it's better to leave some time between them. It lets you appreciate more the rehashing of characters and their behaviour in all these books, which would be just too much of a good thing otherwise.
It is a delightful, breezy summer read.
February 20, 2015
Angela Thirkell is one of those writers whose books I believe I first came across at a library sale, and picked up primarily for Mom; she can be hard to find reading matter for sometimes, but a nice solid British novel from the thirties is usually a safe bet. I don't know if Mom liked this (probably) – but I did. It plunked me down in the middle of Angela Thirkell's Barteshire Novels, but the structure of the series seems to be very forgiving of this sort of thing. It worked for me, anyway.
I've read Mapp and Lucia since finishing The Brandons, and I have to say that from this point of view Angela Thirkell's take on the upper middle class is a slightly kinder, gentler version of E.F. Benson's. There is skewering going on, and the characters are shown in their most ridiculous light – but my impression is that, unlike Benson, Thirkell genuinely enjoyed the characters she brought to life. For me, this makes for a much more pleasant read.
Mrs. Brandon is a gently self-centered, stunningly shallow, yet still somehow likeable young(ish) widow with two grown children, who tolerate her in a lovingly exasperated way. Her main concern in life is to avoid effort and strain; theirs is to keep her from saying too many completely inappropriate and overly frank things in any given public situation. One of their concerns is not, particularly, one which they might be expected to care deeply about: whether or not their crotchety elderly maiden great-aunt will leave her fortune to them or to the cousin she keeps bringing up as a threat whenever she feels neglected. She feels neglected fairly often, because she was their father's aunt, not their mother's, and sheer stubborn stiff-upper-lip duty is all that has dragged any of them to her door over the years. She is difficult, she is cantankerous, she has a stuffed gorilla, and it really doesn't matter to them where her money goes; they have enough of their own – but she is their relation, after all, and alone (except for the servants), and so go they must. They're rather nice people, despite themselves, and grudgingly.
There is match-making, match-avoiding, unrequited love, and a country fair. The book as a whole is not exactly plot-heavy, but it's also not utter froth: it's more of a meringue, toothsome fluff you can actually bite into. (That should be part of what "toothsome" means, darn it.) It's written with a light touch, so that not a soul in the book is wholly unpalatable; everyone has some crinkle or quirk that is if nothing else interesting. It's a lot of fun.
An Englishism I was driven to look up: Tin loaves - which are simply loaves of bread baked in loaf pans, and nothing to do after all with that brown bread baked in tin cans. But then how are loaves baked otherwise? Just as is on baking sheets? Obviously I need to do some serious bread research.
I've read Mapp and Lucia since finishing The Brandons, and I have to say that from this point of view Angela Thirkell's take on the upper middle class is a slightly kinder, gentler version of E.F. Benson's. There is skewering going on, and the characters are shown in their most ridiculous light – but my impression is that, unlike Benson, Thirkell genuinely enjoyed the characters she brought to life. For me, this makes for a much more pleasant read.
Mrs. Brandon is a gently self-centered, stunningly shallow, yet still somehow likeable young(ish) widow with two grown children, who tolerate her in a lovingly exasperated way. Her main concern in life is to avoid effort and strain; theirs is to keep her from saying too many completely inappropriate and overly frank things in any given public situation. One of their concerns is not, particularly, one which they might be expected to care deeply about: whether or not their crotchety elderly maiden great-aunt will leave her fortune to them or to the cousin she keeps bringing up as a threat whenever she feels neglected. She feels neglected fairly often, because she was their father's aunt, not their mother's, and sheer stubborn stiff-upper-lip duty is all that has dragged any of them to her door over the years. She is difficult, she is cantankerous, she has a stuffed gorilla, and it really doesn't matter to them where her money goes; they have enough of their own – but she is their relation, after all, and alone (except for the servants), and so go they must. They're rather nice people, despite themselves, and grudgingly.
There is match-making, match-avoiding, unrequited love, and a country fair. The book as a whole is not exactly plot-heavy, but it's also not utter froth: it's more of a meringue, toothsome fluff you can actually bite into. (That should be part of what "toothsome" means, darn it.) It's written with a light touch, so that not a soul in the book is wholly unpalatable; everyone has some crinkle or quirk that is if nothing else interesting. It's a lot of fun.
An Englishism I was driven to look up: Tin loaves - which are simply loaves of bread baked in loaf pans, and nothing to do after all with that brown bread baked in tin cans. But then how are loaves baked otherwise? Just as is on baking sheets? Obviously I need to do some serious bread research.
November 22, 2017
This story focuses on Mrs. Brandon, a lovely widow with two young adult children living at her late husband's home, Stories, in the village of Pomfret Madigral. Mrs. Brandon is so lovely and kind to everyone, including her husband's tyrannical Aunt Amelia. Aunt Amelia aka "Sissy" is the last of the Brandons, besides Francis and Delia. She rules over the staff at Brandon Abbey with an iron fist but her companion Miss Morris bears all with the good grace of a clergyman's daughter. As Miss Brandon nears the end of her life, the question on everyone's minds is-who gets the Abbey? Miss Brandon changes her mind on a daily basis, torn between Francis and an unknown cousin of some sort-neither of whom want the Abbey. The cousin's mother, however, comes to see to the welfare of her son and causes chaos with her Calabrian obsession. This is one of the last books set in the pre-war idyllic Barsetshire countryside and introduces new characters who will pop up now and again in later books and catches the reader up with old friends.
I didn't know how many stars to rate this book. 4 seems generous but 3 not enough. I really enjoyed this book but it's light and fluffy. I needed light and fluffy after the stress of a long work week so I choose 4 stars. The writing isn't the best but parts of it are quite nice. The book is mostly free from the distasteful commentary about non-English people. It centers around the three or four families in a country village that Jane Austen recommended to her niece Anna. The plot is pretty simple and straightforward with the hook of wondering who will get Brandon Abbey. There's romantic entanglements to figure out and some humor.
Mrs. Brandon annoys me. She's beautiful but not very bright. Mrs. Brandon has the annoying habit of pretending to listen to people without actually paying attention. Her abstraction is mistaken for deep interest and causes men to fall in love with her. She has no interest in romance or anything except clothes and her children. I liked Francis and Delia a lot. Francis has a sense of humor and a sense of diplomacy. He knows his mother very well and doesn't feel any angst or embarrassment about her. Delia is ghastly! She has an unhealthy interest in disease and death. She was a born nurse. Delia adds a lot of humor to the story. The family is completed by Nurse who is a very scary nanny! She still treats Delia like a child and pretty much has all the authority in the house.
Then there's the unknown cousin, Hilary Grant, who arrives in Barsetshire to study with Mr. Miller, the vicar. Hilary is a weak man but who can stand up to his mother? Hilary is kind and has an odd obsession with bohemian French poets but when it comes to women, he is completely stupid. Mrs. Grant is the butt of the joke in the novel. She lives in Italy and is worse than my dad with her obsession with Italy and the Italians. Every sentence out of her mouth involves something they do in Calabria and how at home she is there and how the peasants embrace her as one of them, etc. etc. She is completely oblivious to anyone except herself and her son. She comes across as highly amusing and no doubt Thirkell was making fun of pretentious ex-pats. Mrs. Grant reminded me of Lucia from the series Queen Lucia. Mrs. Grant is just awful! It's no wonder poor Hilary is so weak with such an overbearing mother.
The cast of characters is rounded out by Aunt Brandon, a stereotypical tyrannical old lady who threatens to change her will all the time. She is very much a stock character but some of the comedy centers around her as well. Her companion, Miss Morris, is rather unappealing as far as the women in this book go. She is so meek and dutiful but also very strong and intelligent. Yet, she breaks down in tears when faced with adversity and has a very predictable plotline. Mr. Miller, the vicar, her father's old pupil, is the last of the main characters. He is kind and doesn't deserve to be snubbed by Miss Morris. His infatuation with Mrs. Brandon is silly and undeserved but I hoped he would find someone who would love him for his own limited intelligence and kind heart.
Finally, Lydia Keith and her parents make cameo appearances. Noel Merton also appears here and gives an account of Kate Keith's wedding. I'm so glad I read this book because I love Lydia! She's at an awkward stage where she's not a child but doesn't know how to grow up yet. She's a tomboy in a world of ladies and gentlemen but I love her energy and eagerness to help someone in need. Laura Morland and her son Tony also appear here. I have a fondness for Laura in her abstractness and pot boiler novels. I'm not fond of Tony. He's a bit too precocious, even at 17.
I had skipped ahead to the war years but now I want to reread the books in order now I am acquainted with everyone. I highly recommend Angela Thirkell to fans of the English country village novel.
I didn't know how many stars to rate this book. 4 seems generous but 3 not enough. I really enjoyed this book but it's light and fluffy. I needed light and fluffy after the stress of a long work week so I choose 4 stars. The writing isn't the best but parts of it are quite nice. The book is mostly free from the distasteful commentary about non-English people. It centers around the three or four families in a country village that Jane Austen recommended to her niece Anna. The plot is pretty simple and straightforward with the hook of wondering who will get Brandon Abbey. There's romantic entanglements to figure out and some humor.
Mrs. Brandon annoys me. She's beautiful but not very bright. Mrs. Brandon has the annoying habit of pretending to listen to people without actually paying attention. Her abstraction is mistaken for deep interest and causes men to fall in love with her. She has no interest in romance or anything except clothes and her children. I liked Francis and Delia a lot. Francis has a sense of humor and a sense of diplomacy. He knows his mother very well and doesn't feel any angst or embarrassment about her. Delia is ghastly! She has an unhealthy interest in disease and death. She was a born nurse. Delia adds a lot of humor to the story. The family is completed by Nurse who is a very scary nanny! She still treats Delia like a child and pretty much has all the authority in the house.
Then there's the unknown cousin, Hilary Grant, who arrives in Barsetshire to study with Mr. Miller, the vicar. Hilary is a weak man but who can stand up to his mother? Hilary is kind and has an odd obsession with bohemian French poets but when it comes to women, he is completely stupid. Mrs. Grant is the butt of the joke in the novel. She lives in Italy and is worse than my dad with her obsession with Italy and the Italians. Every sentence out of her mouth involves something they do in Calabria and how at home she is there and how the peasants embrace her as one of them, etc. etc. She is completely oblivious to anyone except herself and her son. She comes across as highly amusing and no doubt Thirkell was making fun of pretentious ex-pats. Mrs. Grant reminded me of Lucia from the series Queen Lucia. Mrs. Grant is just awful! It's no wonder poor Hilary is so weak with such an overbearing mother.
The cast of characters is rounded out by Aunt Brandon, a stereotypical tyrannical old lady who threatens to change her will all the time. She is very much a stock character but some of the comedy centers around her as well. Her companion, Miss Morris, is rather unappealing as far as the women in this book go. She is so meek and dutiful but also very strong and intelligent. Yet, she breaks down in tears when faced with adversity and has a very predictable plotline. Mr. Miller, the vicar, her father's old pupil, is the last of the main characters. He is kind and doesn't deserve to be snubbed by Miss Morris. His infatuation with Mrs. Brandon is silly and undeserved but I hoped he would find someone who would love him for his own limited intelligence and kind heart.
Finally, Lydia Keith and her parents make cameo appearances. Noel Merton also appears here and gives an account of Kate Keith's wedding. I'm so glad I read this book because I love Lydia! She's at an awkward stage where she's not a child but doesn't know how to grow up yet. She's a tomboy in a world of ladies and gentlemen but I love her energy and eagerness to help someone in need. Laura Morland and her son Tony also appear here. I have a fondness for Laura in her abstractness and pot boiler novels. I'm not fond of Tony. He's a bit too precocious, even at 17.
I had skipped ahead to the war years but now I want to reread the books in order now I am acquainted with everyone. I highly recommend Angela Thirkell to fans of the English country village novel.
June 19, 2023
6/23: Reread with the Retro Reads group. I absolutely adored this book, even more than first time - I try to get audiobooks when rereading Thirkell, they add so much to my enjoyment.
There are charming old Barsetshire friends in this book, like novelist Laura Morland and her know-it-all, but still very young son, Tony, along with boisterous Lydia Keith and her family’s friend, successful London barrister Noel Merton; but this book centers on Mrs. Lavinia Brandon and her young adult children, Francis and Delia.
Lavinia is a widow, still beautiful, charming, kind-hearted but somewhat empty-headed - much to her children’s sly amusement, most men who come within her orbit, young or old, fall in worshipful love with her! At the beginning, they are contemplating a visit to bedridden, cranky, rich old Aunt Sissie; the outspoken old lady lives at gloomy Brandon Abbey, which she keeps threatening to leave to Francis or another cousin, Hilary Grant. The Brandons meet Hilary, who is studying classics with their kind bachelor vicar, Mr. Miller (who takes in pupils for extra income).
Aunt Sissie has a quiet, efficient companion, Miss Morris; she knew Mr. Miller when he was studying with the clergyman father she adored (but everyone else secretly acknowledges he sounded like a selfish, humorless, unbending old coot). Anyway, in typical Thirkell style, nothing much happens but everyday life, death and romance in rural England before WWII. I love these books for their gentle humor, delightfully quirky characters, and clever dialogue. Listened to the Audible this time, delightfully narrated by Jilly Bond.
2012: I'm collecting and reading Angela Thirkell's Barsetshire books as I can find them, and I think I'm addicted - they never fail to make me smile, even laugh out loud. When her books first came out in the 1930's and '40's she was sometimes compared to Jane Austen for her humorous portrayals of everyday life and love among the country house set, although she wasn't considered in Austen's league - but then, who could be? On the jacket of one of her used books a reviewer says she's like Austen combined with Wodehouse, another favorite of mine, and I think that's a fair comparison, although Thirkell's situations are funny where Wodehouse's are sillier and almost devolve into slapstick (mainly due to the mental deficiency of Bertie Wooster and many of his friends!)
Thirkell's humor is dry to the bone, her characters are snobbish, witty, charming by turns, but never caricatures. You can feel her affection for even the most obnoxious or ridiculous among them (Aunt Sissie and Mrs. Grant, I'm talking to you!) I always feel that affection and acceptance of all of her characters pays homage to Anthony Trollope, from whom Thirkell borrowed not just the mythical English county he invented for his brilliant novels (Barsetshire), but many of the places and families as well. Thirkell may never be Austen or Trollope but she always makes me laugh and marvel at creating such a wonderful world full of interesting, silly, delightful people - delicious!
There are charming old Barsetshire friends in this book, like novelist Laura Morland and her know-it-all, but still very young son, Tony, along with boisterous Lydia Keith and her family’s friend, successful London barrister Noel Merton; but this book centers on Mrs. Lavinia Brandon and her young adult children, Francis and Delia.
Lavinia is a widow, still beautiful, charming, kind-hearted but somewhat empty-headed - much to her children’s sly amusement, most men who come within her orbit, young or old, fall in worshipful love with her! At the beginning, they are contemplating a visit to bedridden, cranky, rich old Aunt Sissie; the outspoken old lady lives at gloomy Brandon Abbey, which she keeps threatening to leave to Francis or another cousin, Hilary Grant. The Brandons meet Hilary, who is studying classics with their kind bachelor vicar, Mr. Miller (who takes in pupils for extra income).
Aunt Sissie has a quiet, efficient companion, Miss Morris; she knew Mr. Miller when he was studying with the clergyman father she adored (but everyone else secretly acknowledges he sounded like a selfish, humorless, unbending old coot). Anyway, in typical Thirkell style, nothing much happens but everyday life, death and romance in rural England before WWII. I love these books for their gentle humor, delightfully quirky characters, and clever dialogue. Listened to the Audible this time, delightfully narrated by Jilly Bond.
2012: I'm collecting and reading Angela Thirkell's Barsetshire books as I can find them, and I think I'm addicted - they never fail to make me smile, even laugh out loud. When her books first came out in the 1930's and '40's she was sometimes compared to Jane Austen for her humorous portrayals of everyday life and love among the country house set, although she wasn't considered in Austen's league - but then, who could be? On the jacket of one of her used books a reviewer says she's like Austen combined with Wodehouse, another favorite of mine, and I think that's a fair comparison, although Thirkell's situations are funny where Wodehouse's are sillier and almost devolve into slapstick (mainly due to the mental deficiency of Bertie Wooster and many of his friends!)
Thirkell's humor is dry to the bone, her characters are snobbish, witty, charming by turns, but never caricatures. You can feel her affection for even the most obnoxious or ridiculous among them (Aunt Sissie and Mrs. Grant, I'm talking to you!) I always feel that affection and acceptance of all of her characters pays homage to Anthony Trollope, from whom Thirkell borrowed not just the mythical English county he invented for his brilliant novels (Barsetshire), but many of the places and families as well. Thirkell may never be Austen or Trollope but she always makes me laugh and marvel at creating such a wonderful world full of interesting, silly, delightful people - delicious!
November 9, 2022
I adore it!
I can't understand how Mrs. Thirkell managed it but she wrote perfect romantic novels almost without romance in them. I am really a huge fan of a romance that makes me swoon and takes my breath away. I don't like when love story goes behind the curtains or is trivial. So, I am a little surprised how much I have enjoyed "The Brandons". I mean:
--> there was little action/events/plot (like in most of Thirkell books, I think)
--> there wasn't a broken heart
--> there was only one couple at the end (it wasn't typical for Thirkell, I think)
--> there wasn't even one "sighing" scene.
But, again: it was perfect! I wanted many times simply hug the book (I did it a few times). I smiled, I laughed. I loved the characters. Each one. They were simply... perfect. Sir Edmund (especially his move/decision at the end of the book), Francis and Deila (I demand more of them!), Hilary, Mrs. Brandon, Nurse... etc. And there were Mrs. Morland and Tony (seventeen years old) - I want more of Tony!
The novel was cozy, charming, witty, amusing... I can go on and on like this.
I simply love Thirhell's witty pen.
And I love the last scene with angels ;-) So hilarious.
I can't understand how Mrs. Thirkell managed it but she wrote perfect romantic novels almost without romance in them. I am really a huge fan of a romance that makes me swoon and takes my breath away. I don't like when love story goes behind the curtains or is trivial. So, I am a little surprised how much I have enjoyed "The Brandons". I mean:
--> there was little action/events/plot (like in most of Thirkell books, I think)
--> there wasn't a broken heart
--> there was only one couple at the end (it wasn't typical for Thirkell, I think)
--> there wasn't even one "sighing" scene.
But, again: it was perfect! I wanted many times simply hug the book (I did it a few times). I smiled, I laughed. I loved the characters. Each one. They were simply... perfect. Sir Edmund (especially his move/decision at the end of the book), Francis and Deila (I demand more of them!), Hilary, Mrs. Brandon, Nurse... etc. And there were Mrs. Morland and Tony (seventeen years old) - I want more of Tony!
The novel was cozy, charming, witty, amusing... I can go on and on like this.
I simply love Thirhell's witty pen.
...or the fact that their great-great-grandfather had as a child sat on the knee of a very old man whose grandfather said he remembered someone who said he had heard of the Reformation.
Mrs Grant... lamented the cold English climate and pined for the sun of Calabria till everyone wished it had never been invented.
Mrs Brandon felt that if anyone said again that he must be going and didn't go at once, she might scream, so she shut her eyes.
And I love the last scene with angels ;-) So hilarious.
July 7, 2020
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I've read some reviewers compare her to Barbara Pym. I didn't see that comparison at all when I read "Wild Strawberries", however, in certain scenes in this one I could see the comparison. In this novel, it is so important to catch the subtleties in relationships and even Mrs. Brandon herself. Her intelligence is dismissed by several characters but everyone loves her for her goodness. Yet, even til the end, the characters do not really how gently they've all been managed from Mrs. Brandon's summer lounge chair. I found her to be a delightful character in a cast of proper English countryside folk mingling with a few eccentrics.
If you haven't read Thirkell yet. I think this one would be great start for you.
If you haven't read Thirkell yet. I think this one would be great start for you.
July 28, 2016
Aunt Sissy is failing. Taking pleasure not only in baiting her relatives, Miss Brandon also seem to delight in keeping her niece-by-marraige, Lavinia Brandon and her children, Francis and Delia, on their toes.
Aunt Sissy seems to enjoy fostering resentment among her relatives with constant doom-and gloom references as to who will inherit her property. Dredging up a distant cousin, Hilary Grant, whom she includes in the family competition, backfires when Hilary actually becomes a family friend. The Brandons, however, don’t fall for their Aunt's devious plots. An interesting (and sometimes puzzling) set of characters, none of them seem to really care who will be landed with the settlement.
This is the crux of Angela Thirkell’s novel “The Brandons” but in between are several sub plots that, although seemingly light and frothy, have caused me ‘much to think’!
Is Lavinia Brandon really as empty-headed and purposeless as she seems?
“The truth, ever so little twisted in the right direction by her ingenious mind, was that Mr. Brandon had proposed to her when she was not quite twenty. Being a kind-hearted girl who hated to say no, she had at once fallen in love, because if one’s heart is not otherwise engaged there seems to be nothing else to do.”
The final chapters of the book gave me pause to wonder about Lavinia Brandon. Her machinations and throwing together a long-estranged couple seem to show method in her madness!
This was the first novel I read by Thirkell, even though I have been meaning to get to “Wild Strawberries” (on my bookshelf) for ages! I had no idea of the pleasure ahead, of Thirkell’s wit, poking fun at the human personality within a small English village, and tongue-in-cheek humor. Her Austen-like sentences at times interspersed with real human drama emphasize that the author is no mere comedic writer; rather her plot shows a slow unveiling that, although in this case predictable, was quite pleasurable to read.
“But human nature cannot be content on a diet of honey and if there is nothing in one’s life that requires pity, one must invent it; for to go through life unpitied would be an unthinkable loss.”
Aunt Sissy seems to enjoy fostering resentment among her relatives with constant doom-and gloom references as to who will inherit her property. Dredging up a distant cousin, Hilary Grant, whom she includes in the family competition, backfires when Hilary actually becomes a family friend. The Brandons, however, don’t fall for their Aunt's devious plots. An interesting (and sometimes puzzling) set of characters, none of them seem to really care who will be landed with the settlement.
This is the crux of Angela Thirkell’s novel “The Brandons” but in between are several sub plots that, although seemingly light and frothy, have caused me ‘much to think’!
Is Lavinia Brandon really as empty-headed and purposeless as she seems?
“The truth, ever so little twisted in the right direction by her ingenious mind, was that Mr. Brandon had proposed to her when she was not quite twenty. Being a kind-hearted girl who hated to say no, she had at once fallen in love, because if one’s heart is not otherwise engaged there seems to be nothing else to do.”
The final chapters of the book gave me pause to wonder about Lavinia Brandon. Her machinations and throwing together a long-estranged couple seem to show method in her madness!
This was the first novel I read by Thirkell, even though I have been meaning to get to “Wild Strawberries” (on my bookshelf) for ages! I had no idea of the pleasure ahead, of Thirkell’s wit, poking fun at the human personality within a small English village, and tongue-in-cheek humor. Her Austen-like sentences at times interspersed with real human drama emphasize that the author is no mere comedic writer; rather her plot shows a slow unveiling that, although in this case predictable, was quite pleasurable to read.
“But human nature cannot be content on a diet of honey and if there is nothing in one’s life that requires pity, one must invent it; for to go through life unpitied would be an unthinkable loss.”
August 17, 2021
Angela gently and affectionately portrays English country village life. In this one Mrs. Brandon, an attractive widow, who is too kind for her own good, is featured. Everyone falls in love with her, to the amusement of her two grown children. The foibles and eccentricities of the family and their friends are amusingly skewered, but only in the kindest way. The principals in the book await the demise of old Miss Brandon, whose vast fortune and crumbling old estate no one really wants. They are perfectly happy the way they are. I listened to this one from the library on Hoopla, and it was a treat. We meet Laura Morland and her incorrigible son Tony again, and I hope I will meet The Brandons again.
https://rebekahsreadingsandwatchings....
https://rebekahsreadingsandwatchings....
October 3, 2019
Great book.
January 29, 2021
I really enjoy Angela Thirkell. She writes amusing period-piece novels where not too much happens. Oh, people go on picnics, put on a village fete, or some older person eventually dies after keeping the family hanging around for years, but they're not books full of intriguing plots. They are full of men and women of all ages visiting, talking, and falling in and out of love. What makes her books so worth reading is the way she presents these people - as slightly silly, sometimes self-centered and other times bumbling - but always with affection. It's such a pleasure to read an author who sees the foolishness in people but still manages to like them.
The Brandons is a typically well-done Thirkell novel. Mrs. Brandon, a lovely and very nice widow with two children, is much put upon. Gentlemen of all ages do tend to fall in love with her and then insist on reading their unpublished manuscripts to her. Being a pleasant woman, she spends those times smiling nicely and planning menus or working out the details of her wardrobe. She has two children, a son in his twenties who loves her, and loves gently mocking her, and a nineteen year-old daughter whose greatest pleasures seem to be riding merry-go-rounds and viewing bleeding bodies. (My one problem with this book is that Delia seems more like a 9-12 year old than 19.) The Brandons have neighbors and friends who move in and out of their lives, and we watch it all.
It's especially fun in this novel to try and work out who each person will end up with. (I really like Miss Morris and I always hope she'd gets an HEA.) Thirkell's novels take place in one fictional area of England, and some characters move in and out of different novels, but basically they can be read in any order, though it's fun to get them in chronological order if you can.
If you're new to these books this is a good place to start, I think. I usually read it but listened to it this time and enjoyed it a lot. The fact that it was narrated by the wonderful Nadia May certainly helped.
Which book is this?
The Brandons is a typically well-done Thirkell novel. Mrs. Brandon, a lovely and very nice widow with two children, is much put upon. Gentlemen of all ages do tend to fall in love with her and then insist on reading their unpublished manuscripts to her. Being a pleasant woman, she spends those times smiling nicely and planning menus or working out the details of her wardrobe. She has two children, a son in his twenties who loves her, and loves gently mocking her, and a nineteen year-old daughter whose greatest pleasures seem to be riding merry-go-rounds and viewing bleeding bodies. (My one problem with this book is that Delia seems more like a 9-12 year old than 19.) The Brandons have neighbors and friends who move in and out of their lives, and we watch it all.
It's especially fun in this novel to try and work out who each person will end up with. (I really like Miss Morris and I always hope she'd gets an HEA.) Thirkell's novels take place in one fictional area of England, and some characters move in and out of different novels, but basically they can be read in any order, though it's fun to get them in chronological order if you can.
If you're new to these books this is a good place to start, I think. I usually read it but listened to it this time and enjoyed it a lot. The fact that it was narrated by the wonderful Nadia May certainly helped.
Which book is this?
September 20, 2018
Sept. 2018 reread via Hoopla audiobook narrated by Nadia May:
4.5* for the audiobook edition. Nadia May did a terrific job narrating this novel & I enjoyed it even more this time around. Mrs. Brandon annoyed me a bit when I first read this book but this time around I just found her amusing.
I found that The Brandons reminded me of Jane Austen quite a bit more than the other Thirkell novels I've read... I think it was the romantic sub-plot
4.5* for the audiobook edition. Nadia May did a terrific job narrating this novel & I enjoyed it even more this time around. Mrs. Brandon annoyed me a bit when I first read this book but this time around I just found her amusing.
I found that The Brandons reminded me of Jane Austen quite a bit more than the other Thirkell novels I've read... I think it was the romantic sub-plot
June 27, 2023
This author had a remarkable gift for creating fictional people who are deeply flawed, yet somehow lovable. They are an object of our amusement and sometimes our pity, but never our scorn. These intriguing characters drive the plot, which centers around human behavior rather than events. A few misunderstandings, a gentle romance here and there…described with Thirkell’s sparkling humour, it all adds up to a very enjoyable read.
Finished and enjoyed it immensely the second time around. (I do think Mrs. Grant had the best lines. “I am like the lizards, those graceful little creatures. I can spend all day with my brother the sun and feel refreshed.”) She was THE most affected yet authentic character. I liked all the other characters, each of whom was interesting and unique.
Finished and enjoyed it immensely the second time around. (I do think Mrs. Grant had the best lines. “I am like the lizards, those graceful little creatures. I can spend all day with my brother the sun and feel refreshed.”) She was THE most affected yet authentic character. I liked all the other characters, each of whom was interesting and unique.
June 23, 2023
This installment in Thirkell’s Barsetshire series focuses on Lavinia Brandon, a widow in her forties, and her two more or less grown children. Mrs. Brandon is prosperous and largely idle, as well as beautiful enough to have a variety of unattached men in the neighborhood entertaining romantic fantasies about her. Her son, Francis, sees their dangling after her (and the subtle things she does to encourage them) with affectionate amusement; his little sister Delia, graduate of a first aid course, is too busy pursuing grisly accidents and disgusting physical ailments to care much one way or another. These three form the center around which the story appears to revolve, but in fact their dramatic potential is not really sufficient to drive the story forward.
Enter a diverse cast of secondary characters, from the Brandons’ cousin, the jejune Hilary Grant, and his delightfully appalling mother, to the fumbling vicar Mr. Miller, the Brandons’ dying kinswoman Miss Brandon, and Miss Brandon’s companion Miss Morris. These characters have more to do with the action.
Angela Thirkell has a gift for unraveling the tangled threads that make up a household of miscellaneous people, and here we see the Brandons’ and other homes as hotbeds of conflict held in precarious balance through the skillful management of the wiser heads in them. Servants jockey for position, parents and children vie for dominance, one person’s pleasures are challenged by another’s needs. Thirkell revels in these complications and gives them all their due. What we owe to ourselves is always contending with what we owe to others, making for much comedy—so long as you accept the premise that the world of comfortably idle gentry and servants delighted to wait on them is essentially a good and fair world. The comedy only works if you accept that world uncritically.
This book was published in 1939, basically the last year in which such a worldview could be sustained in England. A cataclysm was soon to engulf them all, and I couldn’t help imagining the various characters into the roles they would have to assume once war was declared. Delia with her first aid training was clearly poised to come into a new competence; the self-involved Hilary Grant would have to become a soldier and would hopefully learn that he wasn’t the center of the universe; Mrs. Brandon would probably lose most of her servants, and how could she cope? At the time she wrote this book Thirkell couldn’t have known what was to come, but the reader can’t help reading in that context.
I’ve always been pretty content to fall into Thirkell’s pleasant world and enjoy myself uncritically, but as the years pass it becomes harder to do so. The treatment of the lower-class characters here is pretty patronizing; we’re not supposed to question that the gentry know better and are entitled to maneuver the peons into line with expectations. And we are supposed to feel sympathy only for the privations of the companion, Miss Morris, because she was brought up a gentlewoman and therefore must—what?—feel the humiliations of her dependent situation more acutely than the people raised to be servants? It will be interesting to read Thirkell’s wartime and later books and see how she copes with the massive shifts in worldview; I remember as a young reader finding them disappointing, but hope to read them now more thoughtfully.
Thirkell’s characters in her books up to this point have mostly been what the British would call “sound as a nut”—eccentric, perhaps, but when pressed displaying consistently solid family values and prepared to slip into predetermined adult roles. In this book I began to see a few clouds on that horizon as well. Late in the story Mrs. Brandon, in her quiet efforts to enslave men to her worship, turns from unattached widowers and bachelors to a younger man who is already very much attached, seeking to play the same game. We’re assured that both parties are aware of it as a game and nothing serious is intended, but that ignores the potential harm to the woman the young man is attached to. The final scenes harshed my mellow for sure.
So while I mostly enjoyed this Barsetshire episode, there were some elements troubling the usual smooth surface of county society.
Enter a diverse cast of secondary characters, from the Brandons’ cousin, the jejune Hilary Grant, and his delightfully appalling mother, to the fumbling vicar Mr. Miller, the Brandons’ dying kinswoman Miss Brandon, and Miss Brandon’s companion Miss Morris. These characters have more to do with the action.
Angela Thirkell has a gift for unraveling the tangled threads that make up a household of miscellaneous people, and here we see the Brandons’ and other homes as hotbeds of conflict held in precarious balance through the skillful management of the wiser heads in them. Servants jockey for position, parents and children vie for dominance, one person’s pleasures are challenged by another’s needs. Thirkell revels in these complications and gives them all their due. What we owe to ourselves is always contending with what we owe to others, making for much comedy—so long as you accept the premise that the world of comfortably idle gentry and servants delighted to wait on them is essentially a good and fair world. The comedy only works if you accept that world uncritically.
This book was published in 1939, basically the last year in which such a worldview could be sustained in England. A cataclysm was soon to engulf them all, and I couldn’t help imagining the various characters into the roles they would have to assume once war was declared. Delia with her first aid training was clearly poised to come into a new competence; the self-involved Hilary Grant would have to become a soldier and would hopefully learn that he wasn’t the center of the universe; Mrs. Brandon would probably lose most of her servants, and how could she cope? At the time she wrote this book Thirkell couldn’t have known what was to come, but the reader can’t help reading in that context.
I’ve always been pretty content to fall into Thirkell’s pleasant world and enjoy myself uncritically, but as the years pass it becomes harder to do so. The treatment of the lower-class characters here is pretty patronizing; we’re not supposed to question that the gentry know better and are entitled to maneuver the peons into line with expectations. And we are supposed to feel sympathy only for the privations of the companion, Miss Morris, because she was brought up a gentlewoman and therefore must—what?—feel the humiliations of her dependent situation more acutely than the people raised to be servants? It will be interesting to read Thirkell’s wartime and later books and see how she copes with the massive shifts in worldview; I remember as a young reader finding them disappointing, but hope to read them now more thoughtfully.
Thirkell’s characters in her books up to this point have mostly been what the British would call “sound as a nut”—eccentric, perhaps, but when pressed displaying consistently solid family values and prepared to slip into predetermined adult roles. In this book I began to see a few clouds on that horizon as well. Late in the story Mrs. Brandon, in her quiet efforts to enslave men to her worship, turns from unattached widowers and bachelors to a younger man who is already very much attached, seeking to play the same game. We’re assured that both parties are aware of it as a game and nothing serious is intended, but that ignores the potential harm to the woman the young man is attached to. The final scenes harshed my mellow for sure.
So while I mostly enjoyed this Barsetshire episode, there were some elements troubling the usual smooth surface of county society.
June 11, 2022
A nice comedy with some interesting eccentric characters. A pleasure to read.
February 26, 2017
Another winner from Angela Thirkell - - light and entertaining with all the required elements: a dying rich relative, a vicar, a spinster, the English countryside, a picnic, a misunderstanding, a happy ending.
May 25, 2018
3.5 stars
March 12, 2021
Another of Thirkell's light pre-war novels set in the fictional county of Barsetshire. Nothing much happens, but it's all very enjoyable. The ending is highly satisfactory in terms of the character who most deserves a bequest actually getting one, along with the prospect of living happily ever after.
February 14, 2020
Angela Thirkell - The Brandons 👒 3.75 🌟
Published in 1939, this is a book set in a time I very much enjoy reading about. I had decided that I would really indulge my mood this year and would read absolutely what I fancied. Because who's going to judge me (and who actually cares?😂) for reading country tales of dry witted humour instead of very serious current topics?
Meet Lavinia Brandon. Widow and temptress. She has two grown up children who she has brought up on her own since Mr Brandon passed away when they were little (with help from Nurse, of course). She has never remarried. Every male that crosses paths with Mrs Brandon falls madly in love with her; but she is very good at keeping them in their places and manages to come across as very silly and whimsical. Her late husband's aunt, Miss Brandon, is on her deathbed and is sending all sorts of confusing signals as to the inheritance. When distant cousin Hilary turns up (and falls for the widow as he must), everyone starts speculating and yet nobody wants to inherit.
It's nothing deep, but a very amusing story and it was just what I needed. And I was very pleased to find out Thirkell wrote 29 novels set in Trollope's fictional county of Barsetshire! Ending with a few quotes:
'But I would certainly have come to the funeral', Miss Brandon continued, 'had it not been my Day in Bed. I take one day a week in bed, an excellent plan at my age. Later I shall take two days, and probably spend the last year's of my life entirely in bed. My grandfather, my mother and my elder half-sister were all bed-ridden for the last ten years of their lives and all lived to be over ninety.'
When cousin Hilary realised he couldn't see Mrs Brandon's house from his bedroom window: "...this presented no obstacle to his mind's eye, which ran lightly up the side of the house like Dracula, scaled the beautiful stone roof, perched on the chimney and thence with extensive view surveyed the landscape."
Published in 1939, this is a book set in a time I very much enjoy reading about. I had decided that I would really indulge my mood this year and would read absolutely what I fancied. Because who's going to judge me (and who actually cares?😂) for reading country tales of dry witted humour instead of very serious current topics?
Meet Lavinia Brandon. Widow and temptress. She has two grown up children who she has brought up on her own since Mr Brandon passed away when they were little (with help from Nurse, of course). She has never remarried. Every male that crosses paths with Mrs Brandon falls madly in love with her; but she is very good at keeping them in their places and manages to come across as very silly and whimsical. Her late husband's aunt, Miss Brandon, is on her deathbed and is sending all sorts of confusing signals as to the inheritance. When distant cousin Hilary turns up (and falls for the widow as he must), everyone starts speculating and yet nobody wants to inherit.
It's nothing deep, but a very amusing story and it was just what I needed. And I was very pleased to find out Thirkell wrote 29 novels set in Trollope's fictional county of Barsetshire! Ending with a few quotes:
'But I would certainly have come to the funeral', Miss Brandon continued, 'had it not been my Day in Bed. I take one day a week in bed, an excellent plan at my age. Later I shall take two days, and probably spend the last year's of my life entirely in bed. My grandfather, my mother and my elder half-sister were all bed-ridden for the last ten years of their lives and all lived to be over ninety.'
When cousin Hilary realised he couldn't see Mrs Brandon's house from his bedroom window: "...this presented no obstacle to his mind's eye, which ran lightly up the side of the house like Dracula, scaled the beautiful stone roof, perched on the chimney and thence with extensive view surveyed the landscape."
July 7, 2012
I first heard of this book when we were in Seattle at a friend's house. This friend has rooms and rooms full of lots and lots (and LOTS) of various things--books, CDs, three pianos, even a stuffed bear head--he's not a hoarder, he's just a "collector." (Really. He sells most of the stuff. But then again he goes right out and gets more.) Anyway, my dad was poking around and he found this book, "The Brandons," at a rather prominent place on top of one of the stacks of books. My dad started reading it, and couldn't finish it in Seattle before we left, so when we got back he got it from the library. He enjoyed it very much, and suggested I read it. The parts he read aloud to me were quite funny, so I gave it a try.
The description on Goodreads, for once, is fairly accurate. Take the first sentence, for example:
To many readers, Angela Thirkell is the British writer of light fiction compounded of gentle irony, grave absurdity, and urbane under-statement.
I don't really know what "urbane under-statement" means, but light fiction, gentle irony, and grave absurdity are three terms that fit this book perfectly. This is very, very light reading. I wouldn't say it's exactly fluff--if the classics were main courses of meals (shepherd's pie, steak) then The Brandons would probably be some sort of dessert. Maybe a little cake? More substantial than fluff, but not the same kind of heavier "food" as more serious books. That's perfectly fine.
Of course, Goodreads did the best it could for the actual summary, and I think it's the best anyone could do for such a floaty plot:
...in The Brandons, Mrs. Thirkell chronicles the troubles Mrs. Brandon, a middle-aged widow with two grown-up children, has with her husband's rich maiden aunt, who theatens to leave her money elsewhere if she is not given the attention she feels is her due.
I suppose the first twenty pages of the book are vaguely like that, only no one really wants the maiden aunt's stuffy old mansion or her money. This is really more like those books--oh, what are they called--I don't remember the series/title/genre name they were, but they're sort of "plotless--" no real conflict, no villain trying to conquer the world or whatever. Just little, light stories about life. This fits right into that series/titles/genre. The plot really floats along. Not in a bad way. It would be unbearable, though, without the "gentle irony and grave absurdity" that Angela Thirkell has so cleverly stuck into her story, and her 3D characters.
There were some little details about the characters that made them believable. One is the fact that they're not completely...them. Like, if they're bumbling idiots, they're not completely and totally bumbling idiots. They have some sense in them. That's something that I think every character should be. The maiden aunt, when you first see her, is adorned with lots and lots of expensive jewelry, but she also was wearing a cheap watch that her father bought when he first was able to afford one (before he became a gazillionare.) That was rather interesting.
I'm glad I read this. It's not a huge, filling meal, but it's not marshmallow fluff, either. It's something very enjoyable in between.
The description on Goodreads, for once, is fairly accurate. Take the first sentence, for example:
To many readers, Angela Thirkell is the British writer of light fiction compounded of gentle irony, grave absurdity, and urbane under-statement.
I don't really know what "urbane under-statement" means, but light fiction, gentle irony, and grave absurdity are three terms that fit this book perfectly. This is very, very light reading. I wouldn't say it's exactly fluff--if the classics were main courses of meals (shepherd's pie, steak) then The Brandons would probably be some sort of dessert. Maybe a little cake? More substantial than fluff, but not the same kind of heavier "food" as more serious books. That's perfectly fine.
Of course, Goodreads did the best it could for the actual summary, and I think it's the best anyone could do for such a floaty plot:
...in The Brandons, Mrs. Thirkell chronicles the troubles Mrs. Brandon, a middle-aged widow with two grown-up children, has with her husband's rich maiden aunt, who theatens to leave her money elsewhere if she is not given the attention she feels is her due.
I suppose the first twenty pages of the book are vaguely like that, only no one really wants the maiden aunt's stuffy old mansion or her money. This is really more like those books--oh, what are they called--I don't remember the series/title/genre name they were, but they're sort of "plotless--" no real conflict, no villain trying to conquer the world or whatever. Just little, light stories about life. This fits right into that series/titles/genre. The plot really floats along. Not in a bad way. It would be unbearable, though, without the "gentle irony and grave absurdity" that Angela Thirkell has so cleverly stuck into her story, and her 3D characters.
There were some little details about the characters that made them believable. One is the fact that they're not completely...them. Like, if they're bumbling idiots, they're not completely and totally bumbling idiots. They have some sense in them. That's something that I think every character should be. The maiden aunt, when you first see her, is adorned with lots and lots of expensive jewelry, but she also was wearing a cheap watch that her father bought when he first was able to afford one (before he became a gazillionare.) That was rather interesting.
I'm glad I read this. It's not a huge, filling meal, but it's not marshmallow fluff, either. It's something very enjoyable in between.
May 4, 2015
A definite step up from Summer Half -- this is another family romp from Angela Thirkell, with a few familiar characters playing bit parts, notably the irrepressible Tony Morland and his mother, Lydia Keith (my favourite character in Summer Half), and the urbane Noel Merton. This time the very vague plot is built around the rich maiden aunt and her inheritance, but it really doesn't matter -- it's all about the relationships. How lovely that in the grimness of 1939 Thirkell could write such a fluffy book. Lots of fun, and yes, I nearly cried with laughter at Lydia's antics on the merry-go-round at the church fete. "I say, someone's on my cock!" she bellows as she approaches.
And so on. In the end the people who should get together duly do, and it all ends happily ever after. Wonderful escapism. I'm hooked now, luckily there are plenty more in the series.
Mr Grant, really quite glad of an excuse to dismount, offered his cock to Lydia, who immediately flung a leg over it, explaining that she had put on a frock with pleats on purpose, as she always felt sick if she rode sideways ... "Hurry up and get into the swan!" "We'd better," said Mr Merton to Mr Grant, "or Lydia is capable of riding all over the field after us on the cock."
And so on. In the end the people who should get together duly do, and it all ends happily ever after. Wonderful escapism. I'm hooked now, luckily there are plenty more in the series.
June 10, 2019
:
As much as one might long to be one of Thirkell's vrry pretty, rich, young widows, she clearly has greatest sympathy for those who must work for a living, and for the unappealing nature of most opportunities.
Thirkell's heroine's aren't always clever, but they are always pretty and charming and devoted mothers, albeit, rather distant by 21st century US standards. The ones who are married are less mischievously flirtatious. Lavinia never listens to people, but she is mostly well intentioned: visiting grmpy aged relations or buying all the worst stuff from the stalls at the fete, looking after the poor but genteel companion, etc. All the chaps moon over her a bit then end up with appropriate and loving wives.
There's nothing but gooseberry fool for a month in any of the homes in the county, which seems off-putting. Delia is constantly eating all the ripe peaches she can get her hands on. I have rather forgotten a world where foods were only available in one short season.
Library copy
"...Some of them are discharged lepers," said Lady Norton by way of making the position sound more attractive.
As much as one might long to be one of Thirkell's vrry pretty, rich, young widows, she clearly has greatest sympathy for those who must work for a living, and for the unappealing nature of most opportunities.
Thirkell's heroine's aren't always clever, but they are always pretty and charming and devoted mothers, albeit, rather distant by 21st century US standards. The ones who are married are less mischievously flirtatious. Lavinia never listens to people, but she is mostly well intentioned: visiting grmpy aged relations or buying all the worst stuff from the stalls at the fete, looking after the poor but genteel companion, etc. All the chaps moon over her a bit then end up with appropriate and loving wives.
There's nothing but gooseberry fool for a month in any of the homes in the county, which seems off-putting. Delia is constantly eating all the ripe peaches she can get her hands on. I have rather forgotten a world where foods were only available in one short season.
Library copy
November 18, 2015
And again Angela Thirkell has delivered a very amusing and very readable story. If three stars seem tepid praise: it's all me - not her!!! Unfortunately I didn't read the book in one go but a few pages here and a few there while on a trip to Israel, and what with all the distractions that beautiful, extraordinary country offers, I was unable to do it justice. Must reread it some day ...
P.S.: I feel so dense but I don't quite get the ending -
P.S.: I feel so dense but I don't quite get the ending -
July 15, 2024
Gained in charm as it went along. Thirkell still seems to me like Agatha Christie without the murders, although in this case there is at least hullabaloo regarding a will.
2024: Promoted to four stars for being actually quite charming. Lite, but charming.
2024: Promoted to four stars for being actually quite charming. Lite, but charming.
July 19, 2025
From page 2, The Brandons by Angela Thirkell was never going to be a novel that I would look forward to reading. The setting and characters are just not my cup of tea. These people drink a lot of tea. They even partake in something called “high tea”, which is a euphemism for a banquet prepared and laid by the servants.
Mrs. Brandon and her children live in what they might call a country “pile” in a fictitious Barsetshire. Their abode, however, is nothing compared to the even greater pile of Aunt Sissie, who is quite ill and basically is on her way out. Not out of her property, incidentally, which is subject to a will that is of interest to all concerned.
Mrs. Brandon is a widow. She was recently widowed when her husband died on a visit to France. She is still in mourning, but nearly all of the men in her life seem to be queuing up to “accompany” her. These suitors range from a local vicar to Mr. Grant. The vicar has written a monograph on Donne, which he repeatedly tries to read to Mrs. Brandon, and the latter keeps speaking in untranslated French. Mr. Grant’s mother lives in Calabria, and her unconventionality is often a topic of conversation.
The Brandon’s was first published in 1939, but the society it describes, if ever it existed, seems to hail from decades before. In 1939, Europe was on the brink of war, but in their blissful rurality, these characters have time only for the village fetes, altering frocks, and eating gooseberries. They say “rather” instead of yes and often use the word “ripping” to mean good, except when a character “rips” her sleeve wielding a hammer at the village festivities. There is a particularly risqué section where roundabout presents animals to sit on, including ostriches and cocks. A female character is described as loving her cock and once leg-mounted, does not want to get off.
Overall, The Brandons is largely uninteresting to a modern reader. If, however, you feast on Bertie Wooster and his exploits, there may be something here to interest you.
Mrs. Brandon and her children live in what they might call a country “pile” in a fictitious Barsetshire. Their abode, however, is nothing compared to the even greater pile of Aunt Sissie, who is quite ill and basically is on her way out. Not out of her property, incidentally, which is subject to a will that is of interest to all concerned.
Mrs. Brandon is a widow. She was recently widowed when her husband died on a visit to France. She is still in mourning, but nearly all of the men in her life seem to be queuing up to “accompany” her. These suitors range from a local vicar to Mr. Grant. The vicar has written a monograph on Donne, which he repeatedly tries to read to Mrs. Brandon, and the latter keeps speaking in untranslated French. Mr. Grant’s mother lives in Calabria, and her unconventionality is often a topic of conversation.
The Brandon’s was first published in 1939, but the society it describes, if ever it existed, seems to hail from decades before. In 1939, Europe was on the brink of war, but in their blissful rurality, these characters have time only for the village fetes, altering frocks, and eating gooseberries. They say “rather” instead of yes and often use the word “ripping” to mean good, except when a character “rips” her sleeve wielding a hammer at the village festivities. There is a particularly risqué section where roundabout presents animals to sit on, including ostriches and cocks. A female character is described as loving her cock and once leg-mounted, does not want to get off.
Overall, The Brandons is largely uninteresting to a modern reader. If, however, you feast on Bertie Wooster and his exploits, there may be something here to interest you.
February 26, 2021
What a treat to discover Angela Thirkell's books, and this one is just as delightful as all the others. Brilliantly read by Nadia May. I wonder just how much tea and sherry one can put away in one afternoon???
June 21, 2009
Men don't care that charming Mrs Brandon has teenaged children. She flirts captivatingly to keep herself amused, while she tries to arrange for her friends and family a life as comfortable as her own.
The current crisis is the last days of invalid Aunt Sissy, who has been threatening for years to leave her manor to a distant cousin instead of her Brandon nephew and niece. The manor is such a white elephant that the Brandons and the cousin, Hilary Grant, all hope that she won't leave it to them.
The Vicar, Mr Miller, is enchanted by Mrs Brandon, when what he really needs is a practical lady like Miss Moore, Aunt Sissy's companion. Unfortunately there was a feud between Mr Miller and Miss Moore's father. Will Mrs Brandon's advisor Sir Edmund step up to the mark instead?
Light comedy infused with Mrs Brandon's charm. A delightful read, published in 1939.
The current crisis is the last days of invalid Aunt Sissy, who has been threatening for years to leave her manor to a distant cousin instead of her Brandon nephew and niece. The manor is such a white elephant that the Brandons and the cousin, Hilary Grant, all hope that she won't leave it to them.
The Vicar, Mr Miller, is enchanted by Mrs Brandon, when what he really needs is a practical lady like Miss Moore, Aunt Sissy's companion. Unfortunately there was a feud between Mr Miller and Miss Moore's father. Will Mrs Brandon's advisor Sir Edmund step up to the mark instead?
Light comedy infused with Mrs Brandon's charm. A delightful read, published in 1939.
August 6, 2016
A delightful book, funny and charming. Lavinia Brandon is an attractive widow who likes to keep the people around her happy with the least trouble to herself. This means seeming oblivious to the attentions of two besotted bachelors, offering to do the "right thing" but immediately regretting what this might mean and gliding serenely through life whilst mischievously - and apparently effortlessly - arriving at the best possible solutions for everyone. Some of the chapters are just plain funny - the vicar's foiled attempts to read his book on Donne to Lavinia are farcical! Others reflect a gentle village life we wish still existed - but probably never did!
This is my 4th Angela Thirkell book and it's my favourite so far! (Although I said the same about Pomfret Towers,the previous one I read - and I bought 2 more of her books today!)
(Shelved)
This is my 4th Angela Thirkell book and it's my favourite so far! (Although I said the same about Pomfret Towers,the previous one I read - and I bought 2 more of her books today!)
(Shelved)
March 5, 2013
A not quite middle-aged woman, Lavinia Brandon, has two more or less grown up children named Francis and Delia. Episodes in their life include a visit to an elderly aunt who may or may not leave Francis her estate (he doesn't want it), the arrival of a hitherto-unknown sort-of relative who also may or may not inherit (and also doesn't want it), the mysterious history of said aunt's companion and the local vicar, etc. There were, as usual for Angela Thirkell, some hilarious bits of dialogue and characterization, but I wonder if I've already found my favorite Thirkell novel and the others can't compare? So far, anyway, Wild Strawberries was the best.
February 18, 2017
Lavinia Brandon, a beautiful widow with grown children, tries her hand at matchmaking in this delightful novel. Lavinia's young cousin, Hilary, falls victim to her charm, their Aunt Sissie tries to cause some exciterment over her will, and the village fête enlivens the residents. Old friends from previous Barsetshire novels play supporting roles, while the new characters are soon as dear as the old. As with all of Thirkell's novels, the Brandons (published in 1939) is amusing--often read-out-loud funny-- and charming, a pure pleasure to read.
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