From the Bookshelf of Retro Reads…

The Brandons (Barsetshire, #7)

Angela Thirkell

Start date: June 20, 2023

Finish date: July 19, 2023

Discussion: Group Reads

Discussion leader: Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂

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What Members Thought

Jun 30, 2023 Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: humour, vintage-retro-romance

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 ...more

33 likes · Like · see review

Jan 13, 2011 Susan in NC rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, my-library, currently-re-reading, want-to-reread, tbr-retro, reread, audiobook

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, Fra 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! ...more

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Feb 01, 2018 Mela rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: humor, region-british, historical-romance, group-virago-modern-classic, historical-period-1914-1945, historical-fiction

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 ...more

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Jul 25, 2016 Theresa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

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. T 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.”

...more

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Jul 03, 2022 Elinor rated it really liked it · review of another edition

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 ...more

7 likes · Like · see review