'The merriest tale of human depravity you will ever read' - Hilary Mantel
'Shrewd, sly, mordantly funny and magnificently odd, few literary voices are as distinctive, or as entertaining, as Ivy Compton-Burnett's' Sarah Waters
Ivy Compton-Burnett's most unsparing dissection of the patriarchal family, back in print with a new introduction by Hilary Mantel
It is Christmas Day, 1885, and the Edgeworths are at each other's throats again. Duncan holds his wife and children captive to his authoritarian whims; every day brings fresh struggles for power. Before breakfast is over, there will be presents in the fire.
When illness strikes the family, volatile tensions are unleashed that result in scandal, adultery and murder, while a crowd of gossiping neighbours watches gleefully on.
A brutally funny demolition of patriarchal authority, A House and Its Head confirms Ivy Compton-Burnett's status as one of the unique stylists of twentieth-century English fiction, and its greatest chronicler of the violent dysfunction of families.
'The merriest tale of human depravity you will ever read' - Hilary Mantel
'Shrewd, sly, mordantly funny and magnificently odd, few literary voices are as distinctive, or as entertaining, as Ivy Compton-Burnett's' Sarah Waters
Ivy Compton-Burnett's most unsparing dissection of the patriarchal family, back in print with a new introduction by Hilary Mantel
It is Christmas Day, 1885, and the Edgeworths are at each other's throats again. Duncan holds his wife and children captive to his authoritarian whims; every day brings fresh struggles for power. Before breakfast is over, there will be presents in the fire.
When illness strikes the family, volatile tensions are unleashed that result in scandal, adultery and murder, while a crowd of gossiping neighbours watches gleefully on.
A brutally funny demolition of patriarchal authority, A House and Its Head confirms Ivy Compton-Burnett's status as one of the unique stylists of twentieth-century English fiction, and its greatest chronicler of the violent dysfunction of families.
Pages - 320
Binding - Paperback
Publisher - Pushkin Press
Publication Date - 2021-03-25
ISBN - 9781911590392
Weight - 238 grams