Close Quarters (Angela Thirkell Barsetshire Series)
"When in doubt the answer's always tea," Sister Chiffinch  sagely remarks in this penultimate novel in Angela Thirkel's Barsetshire  series, and what reader would disagree with her? For like everything else  in Thirkell's world, even the summer is very British: "short, brutish, and  nasty: also very cold and damp," and a spot of tea is just the thing to set  things right. And who better to join us around the teapot--either in person  or in conversation--than the many friends Thirkell has introduced us to in  her charming comedies of manners? The focus of the author's attention this  time out is Mrs. Donald Macfayden, formerly Margot Phelps, whose personal  transformation was the subject of Jutland Cottage. Though she is  thrice-bereaved in a few short months, uprooted from her home and shuttled  from one family to another, she nevertheless embraces a new promise of  happiness before the last chapter reaches its end. It goes without saying  that Thirkell's legion of devoted readers will be delighted to join her.