Before Lunch

For those who have read and reread Austen, Trollope and Dickens, discovering a novel by Angela Thirkell is akin to finding gold in an abandoned mine. Long out of print, her novels are currently enjoying a minor renaissance.

Before Lunch is a portrait of the charming English community of "Barsetshire," based on the author''s own Yoknapatawpha County. When a newly built tea shop and garage threaten t...