Three o'clock dinner
By: Josephine Pinckney ; with a new introduction by Barbara L. Bellows.
Series: Southern classics series
Publisher: University of South Carolina Press
Published: 2001
Place of publication: Columbia, S.C
Language: eng
Number of pages: 296
Subjects: Dinners and dining -- Fiction.; Charleston (S.C.) -- Fiction.
Genres: Fiction.
Description: "Mortified when their son "Tat" elopes with the henna-haired daughter of the Hessenwinkles, an especially galling bourgeois clan, the Redcliffs are determined to respond with civility. They invite their son, his new wife, and her family for Sunday dinner, served at the traditional time of three in the afternoon. Tension builds across an expanse of white damask. After mint julep aperitifs, dinner claret, and Madeira toasts, a chance remark ignites the novel's climax amid a flurry of raised voices, hurt feelings, and broken china. Their new daughter-in-law's revelation further shatters the Redcliffs' well-ordered society but opens a door to forgiveness and redemption."--Page 4 of cover.