Jack Middleton likes to imagine himself a country squire At weekends he retires to Laverings Estate with his wife Catherine He may be pompous & they may seem ill-matched but the couple are devoted to each other When Jack's widowed sister Lilian & her two stepchildren arrive to spend the summer in the neighbouring house he dreads the intrusion to his idyll Daphne capable & ambitious is too lively for his taste whereas her brother Denis a composer he finds a crashing bore But their wit & good sense charm the residents of Barchester & they win over Lord Bond with an impromptu Gilbert & Sullivan evening Even Jack begins to thaw Before long Daphne & Lord Bond's son become attracted to each other but each believes the other is attached to someone else Can disaster be averted before she marries the wrong man? First published in 1939 Before Lunch is a sparkling comedy from Angela Thirkell's much-loved classic series