Respect for his elders, Southern charm, an ear for authentic dialogue, and a great sense of humor are Clyde Edgerton's trademarks. Lunch at the Piccadilly is no exception. Lil Olive, lively octogenarian, fetches up at the Rosehaven Convalescent Center after a bad fall, but she is not ready to pack it in. Instead, she befriends several of her peers, plans outings which she executes by stealing a car she insists is hers, and starts laying bets on whether or not Clara removes her glass eye at night.

The center of the novel is Lil's middle-aged, never married nephew Carl. It has fallen to him to look after the women in his family: first his mother, then his Aunt Sarah and now Aunt Lil. He is the soul of patience and kindness, looking after Lil's needs, visiting her frequently and taking the ladies to lunch. He befriends L. Ray Flowers, a firebrand preacher who, because of an injury, is temporarily marooned at the Center. Flowers has an idea: "We are about to pronounce the grand fact that nursing homes and churches all across this land must become interchangeable... We need not two institutions... We need one. And it shall be called Nurches of America, Chursing Homes of the United States." In addition to his grandiose idea, he writes music and encourages Carl to take up the bass guitar again. Carl starts writing lyrics for L. Ray's music and, for a short while, preaching and singing rock the porch at Rosehaven. Inevitably, time and the past catch up with Lil and L. Ray, but not before Carl has found a new creative outlet that gives him some purpose in life other than selling awnings.

Edgerton's Raney and Walking Across Egypt are better novels, with tighter plots and more fully realized characters, but Lunch at the Piccadilly is unmistakably Edgerton, and that's not bad. --Valerie Ryan


From Publishers Weekly
Edgerton writes with warmth about the plight of the elderly in his latest, an ensemble portrait that tracks the ups and downs of a group of nursing home residents at the Rosehaven Convalescent Center. The central figure is contractor Carl Turnage, who devotes most of his time to caring for his dotty, eccentric aunt, Lil Olive, after a fall puts her in convalescent care. The friendly, rambunctious Lil quickly strikes up several friendships at the home, organizing a series of cute but ill-advised adventures as the various patients battle to keep their driving rights and other privileges. Turnage, meanwhile, becomes involved in an adventure of his own with another resident, a flamboyant preacher-cum-musician named L. Ray Flowers who talks him into playing bass in a duo after he sets some of Turnage's lyrics to music. Edgerton hits the mark with his quirky characterizations, and his sympathy for his subjects is evident as they struggle to retain their dignity through their twilight years. Much of the humor is stuffy and outdated, and the comic material involving elderly driving is off-key. But Edgerton compensates with a strong finish: Lil is suddenly hospitalized, and Turnage is forced to come to terms with her mortality, even as a lurid incident involving Flowers's flagrant behavior with the female residents forces another crisis on him. This underplotted novel isn't one of Edgerton's best efforts, but it remains a solid, touching treatment of a neglected subject.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
With wry humor and priceless dialogue, Edgerton (Walking across Egypt, 1987) pulls off the near impossible--he turns a nursing home into the most convivial of establishments. The halls of Rosehaven Convalescent Home are far from grim. Mrs. Maudie Lowe and Mrs. Beatrice Satterwhite are engaged in a heated debate about whether Clara Cochran removes her glass eyeball at night. Preacher L. Ray Flowers has got the ladies all worked up about his idea for a new religious movement--making nursing homes and churches interchangeable ("nurches"). Eightysomething Lil Olive insists that she is perfectly capable of driving, even though she keeps looking for stoplights on telephone poles. And then there's Lil's patient nephew, Carl, whose lifelong dream is fulfilled when L. Ray teaches him to play bass guitar and puts music to his lyrics ("How Come I Miss You When You're with Me All the Time?"). With equal parts skill and whimsy, Edgerton creates a screwball portrait of this "life after life," effortlessly convincing us that it's better, much better, to laugh than to cry about it. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Book Description
In his eighth deliciously funny novel, Clyde Edgerton introduces us to the irrepressible Lil Olive, who's recently arrived at the Rosehaven Convalescence Center to recuperate from a bad fall. Lil longs to be back in her own apartment, and since her driver's license doesn't expire until her ninety-seventh birthday, she also longs to get back behind the wheel of her sporty '89 Olds. To pass the time until independence, Lil strikes up some new friendships. Mrs. Maudie Lowe and Mrs. Beatrice Satterwhite, who are laying bets on whether Clara Cochran's glass eye comes out at night. And L. Ray Flowers, the freelance evangelical preacher with fancy white hair who sings his sermons, strums a mean guitar, and aspires to an even higher calling. Keeping a watchful eye on them all is Carl, Lil's middle-aged bachelor nephew with a heart of gold and the patience of a saint. But soon Rosehaven is turned upside down and the outcome is anyone's guess. Lil and the girls steal a car and hit the highway. L. Ray's vision of a national movement to unite churches and nursing homes (Nurches of America) is embraced by the residents. And then there's Darla Avery's dirty little secret, which could spell the end for the visionary preacher.

Edgerton looks at the challenges of aging with sympathy, sensitivity, and his trademark sense of humor. Like the bestseller Walking Across Egypt, this is vintage Edgerton: wise, wistful, and laugh-out-loud funny.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Welcome to the Rosehaven Convalescence Center in beautiful Listre, North Carolina. Here's Mrs. Lil Olive out on the front porch, talking and rocking right along with the regulars. Lil's comfortable here (recuperating from a recent bad fall), but she is eager to get back to her own apartment. And since her driver's license doesn't expire until her ninety-seventh birthday, she's also eager to get back behind the wheel of her sporty '89 Olds.

Even so, Lil enjoys her new friends and their chitchat out here on the porch. Mrs. Maudie Lowe, the little tiny woman, and Mrs. Beatrice Satterwhite, the three-wheeled-walker woman, are laying bets on whether Mrs. Clara Cochran (the one who cusses) takes her glass eye out at night. And L. Ray Flowers, the freelance evangelical preacher with the fancy white hair who sings his sermons and strums a mean guitar, is revealing his hopes of rising to an even higher calling - a national movement to unite churches and nursing homes ("Nurches of America, Chursing Homes of the United States"). Keeping a watchful eye on them all is Carl, Lil's middle-aged bachelor nephew with a heart of gold and the patience of a saint.

But all talk and no action isn't Lil's strong suit. She's restless. She wants some adventure. And before long, tranquil Rosehaven is turned upside down. Lil and the girls steal a car and hit the highway. L. Ray's vision of nurches - warmly embraced by the residents - is beginning to unsettle the management. And then there's Darla Avery's dirty little secret, which could spell disaster for the visionary preacher.

SYNOPSIS

Welcome to the Rosehaven Convalescence Center in beautiful Listre, North Carolina. Recuperating after a recent fall, Lil Olive sits on the front porch, chitchatting with and rocking right alongside the regulars. There’s tiny Maudie Lowe with her cane that seems too tall; Beatrice Satterwhite, whose fancy three-wheeled walker is a Cadillac among Chevrolets; Clara Cochran, who cusses as frequently as she takes a breath; and L. Ray Flowers, the freelance preacher who strums a mean guitar, and who reveals his dream of forming a national movement to unite churches and nursing homes (“Nurches of America”). Keeping a watchful eye on them all is Carl, Lil’s middle-age bachelor nephew with a heart of gold and the patience of a saint. But Lil is restless, eager to get back to her own apartment. She wants some adventure. And before long, tranquil Rosehaven is turned upside down. . . .

FROM THE CRITICS

The New York Times

Among the delights here are the smart dialogue, the pointed satire of the nursing home industry and, most of all, the chorus of idiosyncratic, opinionated characters who've got more life left in them than anyone quite expects. — Sherri Posesorski

The Washington Post

Lil's goings-on may be hilarious, such as when she inadvertently steals a car and takes the other ladies out for a spin to buy candy, but that hilarity only partly obscures the recognition that we'll all end up like Lil someday -- if we're lucky. Edgerton's is one of the most graceful and humane studies of old age we could hope to find. — Andrew Ervin

Publishers Weekly

Edgerton writes with warmth about the plight of the elderly in his latest, an ensemble portrait that tracks the ups and downs of a group of nursing home residents at the Rosehaven Convalescent Center. The central figure is contractor Carl Turnage, who devotes most of his time to caring for his dotty, eccentric aunt, Lil Olive, after a fall puts her in convalescent care. The friendly, rambunctious Lil quickly strikes up several friendships at the home, organizing a series of cute but ill-advised adventures as the various patients battle to keep their driving rights and other privileges. Turnage, meanwhile, becomes involved in an adventure of his own with another resident, a flamboyant preacher-cum-musician named L. Ray Flowers who talks him into playing bass in a duo after he sets some of Turnage's lyrics to music. Edgerton hits the mark with his quirky characterizations, and his sympathy for his subjects is evident as they struggle to retain their dignity through their twilight years. Much of the humor is stuffy and outdated, and the comic material involving elderly driving is off-key. But Edgerton compensates with a strong finish: Lil is suddenly hospitalized, and Turnage is forced to come to terms with her mortality, even as a lurid incident involving Flowers's flagrant behavior with the female residents forces another crisis on him. This underplotted novel isn't one of Edgerton's best efforts, but it remains a solid, touching treatment of a neglected subject. 25-city author tour. (Sept. 19) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Carl's mother has passed on, and his favorite aunt, who never had any children of her own, has landed in the Rosehaven Convalescence Center, where he visits her regularly. The poignancy of old people giving up their apartments and their independence is mingled with the hilarity of the goings-on at Rosehaven once elderly preacher L. Ray Flowers tries to organize the ladies there into a "movement." Carl's kindness to all the residents and his awkward attempts at romance with social worker Anna reveal his gentle humanity. Despite their failing eyesight and lack of mobility, Aunt Lil and her buddies manage to (mistakenly) steal a car for a final, disastrous shopping spree. The novel blends humor and sadness to a remarkable degree. Edgerton, the author of such fine books as Raney and Walking Across Egypt, is a treasure.-Ann H. Fisher, Radford P.L., VA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews