A Double Affair (Barsetshire #26)

A Double Affair opens with the wedding of Vicar Choyce to family retainer Miss Dorothea ('Merry') Merriman. It closes with the double weddings of George Halliday and John Crosse to Jane and Grace Crawley, of suitable age, having suddenly made their appearance. Fortunately the young men promptly and obligingly fall in love. Along the way, the problem of Mrs Halliday, the widowed parent, is explored until said 'relict' takes charge of her own life, removing herself not only to live with a congenial cousin in Northbridge, but later to permanent residency on the French Riviera; to the not unmixed relief of her son and daughter. So much for the 'empty nest' and doting granny-hood. And if anyone recalls that Edith Graham has, in one fell swoop, lost two of her quasi-suitors, be of good cheer, Lord William Harcourt has conveniently appeared in the wings.