Not as good as I expected, 26 May 2007
Different to my prefered writing style, as the author implies several stories that are never really developed, leaving the reader to imagine and create their own story line for these side plots.

Marvellous Read, 14 Feb 2007
What a gorgeous book, and anything but a simple story. The book is full of sexual liaisons: the governess, the maid, the brother, the friend, the sisters, and particularly the father; but little real love. All bad behaviour is smothered with an outward mask of good behaviour, which becomes their downfall.

Bad behaviour disguised in "Good Behaviour", 30 Mar 2004
A multilayered portrait of a young girl coming of age. Nothing is as it seems - a mother who is anything but motherly, a brother who is gay, the brother's friend whom the main character Aroon St Charles believes loves her, runs off with a school chum. All these set backs for Aroon are deftly or naively excused under the guise of "Good Behaviour" It's only when the family home is left to Aroon by her father does she feel redeemed in any way. A simple story, however each time I read it I find more about the characters. Perhaps the best example of characterisation I have ever read, and as a social history of the landed class in Ireland - unsurpassable!

Delicious undercurrents, 05 Sep 2002
This beautifully written book evokes a sense of time and place -but nothing is what it seems. From the children's nanny's flirtation with the master of the house, to the secret "love that dare not speak it's name" between the narrator's brother and the handsome schoolfriend - there are subdued and dangerous secrets. Layer upon layer of scandalous behaviour is unravelled, softly, cleverly and always subtle - good behaviour is a theme that the characters in this book certainly never adhere to! It's truly wonderful!

One of the masterpieces of the twentieth century, 02 Apr 2001
This blackest of black comedies ranks alongside Ford's 'The Good Soldier' as a merciless portrait of the emotionally repressed landed gentry in the early part of the twentieth century. Its naive narrator, Aroon, recalls a life straitjacketed by 'good behaviour' - that code of manners peculiar to her class - and it is left to the reader to see through her blind misinterpretation of events and piece together a story of tragic self-delusion. It is all done flawlessly with wit and panache and the lightest touch, and I can't recommend it highly enough.

Not as good as I expected, 26 May 2007
Different to my prefered writing style, as the author implies several stories that are never really developed, leaving the reader to imagine and create their own story line for these side plots.

Marvellous Read, 14 Feb 2007
What a gorgeous book, and anything but a simple story. The book is full of sexual liaisons: the governess, the maid, the brother, the friend, the sisters, and particularly the father; but little real love. All bad behaviour is smothered with an outward mask of good behaviour, which becomes their downfall.

Bad behaviour disguised in "Good Behaviour", 30 Mar 2004
A multilayered portrait of a young girl coming of age. Nothing is as it seems - a mother who is anything but motherly, a brother who is gay, the brother's friend whom the main character Aroon St Charles believes loves her, runs off with a school chum. All these set backs for Aroon are deftly or naively excused under the guise of "Good Behaviour" It's only when the family home is left to Aroon by her father does she feel redeemed in any way. A simple story, however each time I read it I find more about the characters. Perhaps the best example of characterisation I have ever read, and as a social history of the landed class in Ireland - unsurpassable!

Delicious undercurrents, 05 Sep 2002
This beautifully written book evokes a sense of time and place -but nothing is what it seems. From the children's nanny's flirtation with the master of the house, to the secret "love that dare not speak it's name" between the narrator's brother and the handsome schoolfriend - there are subdued and dangerous secrets. Layer upon layer of scandalous behaviour is unravelled, softly, cleverly and always subtle - good behaviour is a theme that the characters in this book certainly never adhere to! It's truly wonderful!

One of the masterpieces of the twentieth century, 02 Apr 2001
This blackest of black comedies ranks alongside Ford's 'The Good Soldier' as a merciless portrait of the emotionally repressed landed gentry in the early part of the twentieth century. Its naive narrator, Aroon, recalls a life straitjacketed by 'good behaviour' - that code of manners peculiar to her class - and it is left to the reader to see through her blind misinterpretation of events and piece together a story of tragic self-delusion. It is all done flawlessly with wit and panache and the lightest touch, and I can't recommend it highly enough.

I am devoted to Devoted Ladies, 02 Jul 2007
Witty, intelligent, beautifully written, and entertaining too!

Weak willed Jane is caught between the possessive Jessica and kindhearted George Playfair. Sophisticated playwright Sylvester watches the tale unfold, first at his chic London party, and then at his penniless cousins' house in Ireland.

So we move from G and Ts to Horse and Hound. Every paragraph has something interesting to say, whether it's a well-wrought description, a devastating character assassination or an intelligent and sharp explanation of each character's petty motivations. Although they are satirically drawn, the characters are capable of drawing out our sympathy. e.g. Sylvester's dreadful cousin Piggy, unloveable and unloved.

Devoted Ladies kept me happy and absorbed, (which doesn't happen very often - four years of studying literature have left me jaded!). I would recommend it to those who enjoy black comedy written between the wars, e.g. fans of Evelyn Waugh and/or Nancy Mitford. Although the late Molly Keane is well respected (I haven't read Good Behaviour yet), she doesn't seem to be that a big name. On the strength of this, however, she really deserves to be!

Not as good as I expected, 26 May 2007
Different to my prefered writing style, as the author implies several stories that are never really developed, leaving the reader to imagine and create their own story line for these side plots.

Marvellous Read, 14 Feb 2007
What a gorgeous book, and anything but a simple story. The book is full of sexual liaisons: the governess, the maid, the brother, the friend, the sisters, and particularly the father; but little real love. All bad behaviour is smothered with an outward mask of good behaviour, which becomes their downfall.

Bad behaviour disguised in "Good Behaviour", 30 Mar 2004
A multilayered portrait of a young girl coming of age. Nothing is as it seems - a mother who is anything but motherly, a brother who is gay, the brother's friend whom the main character Aroon St Charles believes loves her, runs off with a school chum. All these set backs for Aroon are deftly or naively excused under the guise of "Good Behaviour" It's only when the family home is left to Aroon by her father does she feel redeemed in any way. A simple story, however each time I read it I find more about the characters. Perhaps the best example of characterisation I have ever read, and as a social history of the landed class in Ireland - unsurpassable!

Delicious undercurrents, 05 Sep 2002
This beautifully written book evokes a sense of time and place -but nothing is what it seems. From the children's nanny's flirtation with the master of the house, to the secret "love that dare not speak it's name" between the narrator's brother and the handsome schoolfriend - there are subdued and dangerous secrets. Layer upon layer of scandalous behaviour is unravelled, softly, cleverly and always subtle - good behaviour is a theme that the characters in this book certainly never adhere to! It's truly wonderful!

One of the masterpieces of the twentieth century, 02 Apr 2001
This blackest of black comedies ranks alongside Ford's 'The Good Soldier' as a merciless portrait of the emotionally repressed landed gentry in the early part of the twentieth century. Its naive narrator, Aroon, recalls a life straitjacketed by 'good behaviour' - that code of manners peculiar to her class - and it is left to the reader to see through her blind misinterpretation of events and piece together a story of tragic self-delusion. It is all done flawlessly with wit and panache and the lightest touch, and I can't recommend it highly enough.

I am devoted to Devoted Ladies, 02 Jul 2007
Witty, intelligent, beautifully written, and entertaining too!

Weak willed Jane is caught between the possessive Jessica and kindhearted George Playfair. Sophisticated playwright Sylvester watches the tale unfold, first at his chic London party, and then at his penniless cousins' house in Ireland.

So we move from G and Ts to Horse and Hound. Every paragraph has something interesting to say, whether it's a well-wrought description, a devastating character assassination or an intelligent and sharp explanation of each character's petty motivations. Although they are satirically drawn, the characters are capable of drawing out our sympathy. e.g. Sylvester's dreadful cousin Piggy, unloveable and unloved.

Devoted Ladies kept me happy and absorbed, (which doesn't happen very often - four years of studying literature have left me jaded!). I would recommend it to those who enjoy black comedy written between the wars, e.g. fans of Evelyn Waugh and/or Nancy Mitford. Although the late Molly Keane is well respected (I haven't read Good Behaviour yet), she doesn't seem to be that a big name. On the strength of this, however, she really deserves to be!

A delicious book , revelling in the flaws of human nature., 27 Nov 2001
Time After Time by Molly Keane is a fantastic novel focussing on a family of one brother, Jasper and his three sisters, ironically called April, May and June. They are stuck in the past, suffocated by their mother's memory whose death seems to have played a large part in the absent change of the family and the grand house they inhabit, Durraghglass. Set in the Irish countryside, Time After Time is a pleasure to read; it's characters brought out skillfully but sympathetically, tragic but comic. It is obvious that Keane loved writing this book, as shown by the description of the 'exotic' cousin Leda, thought to have died in the War, who has returned from Vienna to Durraghglass. She is an exciting guest, bringing the past to the present and reawakening feelings of late. Time After Time contains all you need from a book; discovery, tragedy, secrets, passion and most of all comedy. It is an absolutely delicious book, revelling in all the flaws of human nature.

Not as good as I expected, 26 May 2007
Different to my prefered writing style, as the author implies several stories that are never really developed, leaving the reader to imagine and create their own story line for these side plots.

Marvellous Read, 14 Feb 2007
What a gorgeous book, and anything but a simple story. The book is full of sexual liaisons: the governess, the maid, the brother, the friend, the sisters, and particularly the father; but little real love. All bad behaviour is smothered with an outward mask of good behaviour, which becomes their downfall.

Bad behaviour disguised in "Good Behaviour", 30 Mar 2004
A multilayered portrait of a young girl coming of age. Nothing is as it seems - a mother who is anything but motherly, a brother who is gay, the brother's friend whom the main character Aroon St Charles believes loves her, runs off with a school chum. All these set backs for Aroon are deftly or naively excused under the guise of "Good Behaviour" It's only when the family home is left to Aroon by her father does she feel redeemed in any way. A simple story, however each time I read it I find more about the characters. Perhaps the best example of characterisation I have ever read, and as a social history of the landed class in Ireland - unsurpassable!

Delicious undercurrents, 05 Sep 2002
This beautifully written book evokes a sense of time and place -but nothing is what it seems. From the children's nanny's flirtation with the master of the house, to the secret "love that dare not speak it's name" between the narrator's brother and the handsome schoolfriend - there are subdued and dangerous secrets. Layer upon layer of scandalous behaviour is unravelled, softly, cleverly and always subtle - good behaviour is a theme that the characters in this book certainly never adhere to! It's truly wonderful!

One of the masterpieces of the twentieth century, 02 Apr 2001
This blackest of black comedies ranks alongside Ford's 'The Good Soldier' as a merciless portrait of the emotionally repressed landed gentry in the early part of the twentieth century. Its naive narrator, Aroon, recalls a life straitjacketed by 'good behaviour' - that code of manners peculiar to her class - and it is left to the reader to see through her blind misinterpretation of events and piece together a story of tragic self-delusion. It is all done flawlessly with wit and panache and the lightest touch, and I can't recommend it highly enough.

I am devoted to Devoted Ladies, 02 Jul 2007
Witty, intelligent, beautifully written, and entertaining too!

Weak willed Jane is caught between the possessive Jessica and kindhearted George Playfair. Sophisticated playwright Sylvester watches the tale unfold, first at his chic London party, and then at his penniless cousins' house in Ireland.

So we move from G and Ts to Horse and Hound. Every paragraph has something interesting to say, whether it's a well-wrought description, a devastating character assassination or an intelligent and sharp explanation of each character's petty motivations. Although they are satirically drawn, the characters are capable of drawing out our sympathy. e.g. Sylvester's dreadful cousin Piggy, unloveable and unloved.

Devoted Ladies kept me happy and absorbed, (which doesn't happen very often - four years of studying literature have left me jaded!). I would recommend it to those who enjoy black comedy written between the wars, e.g. fans of Evelyn Waugh and/or Nancy Mitford. Although the late Molly Keane is well respected (I haven't read Good Behaviour yet), she doesn't seem to be that a big name. On the strength of this, however, she really deserves to be!

A delicious book , revelling in the flaws of human nature., 27 Nov 2001
Time After Time by Molly Keane is a fantastic novel focussing on a family of one brother, Jasper and his three sisters, ironically called April, May and June. They are stuck in the past, suffocated by their mother's memory whose death seems to have played a large part in the absent change of the family and the grand house they inhabit, Durraghglass. Set in the Irish countryside, Time After Time is a pleasure to read; it's characters brought out skillfully but sympathetically, tragic but comic. It is obvious that Keane loved writing this book, as shown by the description of the 'exotic' cousin Leda, thought to have died in the War, who has returned from Vienna to Durraghglass. She is an exciting guest, bringing the past to the present and reawakening feelings of late. Time After Time contains all you need from a book; discovery, tragedy, secrets, passion and most of all comedy. It is an absolutely delicious book, revelling in all the flaws of human nature.

Worth your time and attention, 18 Oct 2008
The Rising Tide begins in 1900, finishing in the years between the wars. The opening pages explain that the early 1900s were a time of 'Mother Knows Best'. This is the case in Garonlea, an Irish mansion in which Lady Charlotte keeps a stranglehold on four daughters of varying obedience.

Relief arrives in the shape of Cynthia, their brother's fiancee. Named after the moon goddess, Cynthia initiates the rising of the tide, as society turns away from deference to its elders towards the celebration of parties, fun and youth. But how for long can Cynthia maintain her power, and when will the tide turn back?

For me the first 150 pages were lively, witty, interesting, entertaining. After that halfway point the book lost its vitality, and progress was very slow. But it was all worth it in the end. It isn't giving anything away to say that the last 80 pages had me transfixed; the ending was unpredictable and strange.

Not as good as I expected, 26 May 2007
Different to my prefered writing style, as the author implies several stories that are never really developed, leaving the reader to imagine and create their own story line for these side plots.

Marvellous Read, 14 Feb 2007
What a gorgeous book, and anything but a simple story. The book is full of sexual liaisons: the governess, the maid, the brother, the friend, the sisters, and particularly the father; but little real love. All bad behaviour is smothered with an outward mask of good behaviour, which becomes their downfall.

Bad behaviour disguised in "Good Behaviour", 30 Mar 2004
A multilayered portrait of a young girl coming of age. Nothing is as it seems - a mother who is anything but motherly, a brother who is gay, the brother's friend whom the main character Aroon St Charles believes loves her, runs off with a school chum. All these set backs for Aroon are deftly or naively excused under the guise of "Good Behaviour" It's only when the family home is left to Aroon by her father does she feel redeemed in any way. A simple story, however each time I read it I find more about the characters. Perhaps the best example of characterisation I have ever read, and as a social history of the landed class in Ireland - unsurpassable!

Delicious undercurrents, 05 Sep 2002
This beautifully written book evokes a sense of time and place -but nothing is what it seems. From the children's nanny's flirtation with the master of the house, to the secret "love that dare not speak it's name" between the narrator's brother and the handsome schoolfriend - there are subdued and dangerous secrets. Layer upon layer of scandalous behaviour is unravelled, softly, cleverly and always subtle - good behaviour is a theme that the characters in this book certainly never adhere to! It's truly wonderful!

One of the masterpieces of the twentieth century, 02 Apr 2001
This blackest of black comedies ranks alongside Ford's 'The Good Soldier' as a merciless portrait of the emotionally repressed landed gentry in the early part of the twentieth century. Its naive narrator, Aroon, recalls a life straitjacketed by 'good behaviour' - that code of manners peculiar to her class - and it is left to the reader to see through her blind misinterpretation of events and piece together a story of tragic self-delusion. It is all done flawlessly with wit and panache and the lightest touch, and I can't recommend it highly enough.

I am devoted to Devoted Ladies, 02 Jul 2007
Witty, intelligent, beautifully written, and entertaining too!

Weak willed Jane is caught between the possessive Jessica and kindhearted George Playfair. Sophisticated playwright Sylvester watches the tale unfold, first at his chic London party, and then at his penniless cousins' house in Ireland.

So we move from G and Ts to Horse and Hound. Every paragraph has something interesting to say, whether it's a well-wrought description, a devastating character assassination or an intelligent and sharp explanation of each character's petty motivations. Although they are satirically drawn, the characters are capable of drawing out our sympathy. e.g. Sylvester's dreadful cousin Piggy, unloveable and unloved.

Devoted Ladies kept me happy and absorbed, (which doesn't happen very often - four years of studying literature have left me jaded!). I would recommend it to those who enjoy black comedy written between the wars, e.g. fans of Evelyn Waugh and/or Nancy Mitford. Although the late Molly Keane is well respected (I haven't read Good Behaviour yet), she doesn't seem to be that a big name. On the strength of this, however, she really deserves to be!

A delicious book , revelling in the flaws of human nature., 27 Nov 2001
Time After Time by Molly Keane is a fantastic novel focussing on a family of one brother, Jasper and his three sisters, ironically called April, May and June. They are stuck in the past, suffocated by their mother's memory whose death seems to have played a large part in the absent change of the family and the grand house they inhabit, Durraghglass. Set in the Irish countryside, Time After Time is a pleasure to read; it's characters brought out skillfully but sympathetically, tragic but comic. It is obvious that Keane loved writing this book, as shown by the description of the 'exotic' cousin Leda, thought to have died in the War, who has returned from Vienna to Durraghglass. She is an exciting guest, bringing the past to the present and reawakening feelings of late. Time After Time contains all you need from a book; discovery, tragedy, secrets, passion and most of all comedy. It is an absolutely delicious book, revelling in all the flaws of human nature.

Worth your time and attention, 18 Oct 2008
The Rising Tide begins in 1900, finishing in the years between the wars. The opening pages explain that the early 1900s were a time of 'Mother Knows Best'. This is the case in Garonlea, an Irish mansion in which Lady Charlotte keeps a stranglehold on four daughters of varying obedience.

Relief arrives in the shape of Cynthia, their brother's fiancee. Named after the moon goddess, Cynthia initiates the rising of the tide, as society turns away from deference to its elders towards the celebration of parties, fun and youth. But how for long can Cynthia maintain her power, and when will the tide turn back?

For me the first 150 pages were lively, witty, interesting, entertaining. After that halfway point the book lost its vitality, and progress was very slow. But it was all worth it in the end. It isn't giving anything away to say that the last 80 pages had me transfixed; the ending was unpredictable and strange.

Readable, but not inspiring, 21 Oct 2007
Eight year old Nicandra is wondering why her little efforts to please the grown-ups do not pay off. Later, in her twenties, selflessly devoting herself to a charming but unworthy husband, she does not realize that her habit of doing everything for him is driving him away.

The dynamic between those driven by devotion and the recipients of this intense love, selfish in their taking, or reluctant to accept love's tyranny, is the focus of this novel.

'Loving and Giving' was pleasant and readable, but lacked the sharp humour of 'Devoted Ladies'. Again the struggle of human will versus human will provides the action, but only towards the very end did I feel the book had really woken up.

This book suffers from the same predicament as its heroine - nice enough, provided comfort in the cold autumn evenings - but like the husband in the novel, I was many times tempted to abandon it for a creature more alluring!

Not as good as I expected, 26 May 2007
Different to my prefered writing style, as the author implies several stories that are never really developed, leaving the reader to imagine and create their own story line for these side plots.

Marvellous Read, 14 Feb 2007
What a gorgeous book, and anything but a simple story. The book is full of sexual liaisons: the governess, the maid, the brother, the friend, the sisters, and particularly the father; but little real love. All bad behaviour is smothered with an outward mask of good behaviour, which becomes their downfall.

Bad behaviour disguised in "Good Behaviour", 30 Mar 2004
A multilayered portrait of a young girl coming of age. Nothing is as it seems - a mother who is anything but motherly, a brother who is gay, the brother's friend whom the main character Aroon St Charles believes loves her, runs off with a school chum. All these set backs for Aroon are deftly or naively excused under the guise of "Good Behaviour" It's only when the family home is left to Aroon by her father does she feel redeemed in any way. A simple story, however each time I read it I find more about the characters. Perhaps the best example of characterisation I have ever read, and as a social history of the landed class in Ireland - unsurpassable!

Delicious undercurrents, 05 Sep 2002
This beautifully written book evokes a sense of time and place -but nothing is what it seems. From the children's nanny's flirtation with the master of the house, to the secret "love that dare not speak it's name" between the narrator's brother and the handsome schoolfriend - there are subdued and dangerous secrets. Layer upon layer of scandalous behaviour is unravelled, softly, cleverly and always subtle - good behaviour is a theme that the characters in this book certainly never adhere to! It's truly wonderful!

One of the masterpieces of the twentieth century, 02 Apr 2001
This blackest of black comedies ranks alongside Ford's 'The Good Soldier' as a merciless portrait of the emotionally repressed landed gentry in the early part of the twentieth century. Its naive narrator, Aroon, recalls a life straitjacketed by 'good behaviour' - that code of manners peculiar to her class - and it is left to the reader to see through her blind misinterpretation of events and piece together a story of tragic self-delusion. It is all done flawlessly with wit and panache and the lightest touch, and I can't recommend it highly enough.

I am devoted to Devoted Ladies, 02 Jul 2007
Witty, intelligent, beautifully written, and entertaining too!

Weak willed Jane is caught between the possessive Jessica and kindhearted George Playfair. Sophisticated playwright Sylvester watches the tale unfold, first at his chic London party, and then at his penniless cousins' house in Ireland.

So we move from G and Ts to Horse and Hound. Every paragraph has something interesting to say, whether it's a well-wrought description, a devastating character assassination or an intelligent and sharp explanation of each character's petty motivations. Although they are satirically drawn, the characters are capable of drawing out our sympathy. e.g. Sylvester's dreadful cousin Piggy, unloveable and unloved.

Devoted Ladies kept me happy and absorbed, (which doesn't happen very often - four years of studying literature have left me jaded!). I would recommend it to those who enjoy black comedy written between the wars, e.g. fans of Evelyn Waugh and/or Nancy Mitford. Although the late Molly Keane is well respected (I haven't read Good Behaviour yet), she doesn't seem to be that a big name. On the strength of this, however, she really deserves to be!

A delicious book , revelling in the flaws of human nature., 27 Nov 2001
Time After Time by Molly Keane is a fantastic novel focussing on a family of one brother, Jasper and his three sisters, ironically called April, May and June. They are stuck in the past, suffocated by their mother's memory whose death seems to have played a large part in the absent change of the family and the grand house they inhabit, Durraghglass. Set in the Irish countryside, Time After Time is a pleasure to read; it's characters brought out skillfully but sympathetically, tragic but comic. It is obvious that Keane loved writing this book, as shown by the description of the 'exotic' cousin Leda, thought to have died in the War, who has returned from Vienna to Durraghglass. She is an exciting guest, bringing the past to the present and reawakening feelings of late. Time After Time contains all you need from a book; discovery, tragedy, secrets, passion and most of all comedy. It is an absolutely delicious book, revelling in all the flaws of human nature.

Worth your time and attention, 18 Oct 2008
The Rising Tide begins in 1900, finishing in the years between the wars. The opening pages explain that the early 1900s were a time of 'Mother Knows Best'. This is the case in Garonlea, an Irish mansion in which Lady Charlotte keeps a stranglehold on four daughters of varying obedience.

Relief arrives in the shape of Cynthia, their brother's fiancee. Named after the moon goddess, Cynthia initiates the rising of the tide, as society turns away from deference to its elders towards the celebration of parties, fun and youth. But how for long can Cynthia maintain her power, and when will the tide turn back?

For me the first 150 pages were lively, witty, interesting, entertaining. After that halfway point the book lost its vitality, and progress was very slow. But it was all worth it in the end. It isn't giving anything away to say that the last 80 pages had me transfixed; the ending was unpredictable and strange.

Readable, but not inspiring, 21 Oct 2007
Eight year old Nicandra is wondering why her little efforts to please the grown-ups do not pay off. Later, in her twenties, selflessly devoting herself to a charming but unworthy husband, she does not realize that her habit of doing everything for him is driving him away.

The dynamic between those driven by devotion and the recipients of this intense love, selfish in their taking, or reluctant to accept love's tyranny, is the focus of this novel.

'Loving and Giving' was pleasant and readable, but lacked the sharp humour of 'Devoted Ladies'. Again the struggle of human will versus human will provides the action, but only towards the very end did I feel the book had really woken up.

This book suffers from the same predicament as its heroine - nice enough, provided comfort in the cold autumn evenings - but like the husband in the novel, I was many times tempted to abandon it for a creature more alluring!

Love, death, tea and no sympathy, 13 Jul 2008
I'd forgotten how much I enjoy Molly Keane's writing and thought I'd read everything she wrote until I came across this one on a friend's bookshelf.

Set in Ireland, or Eire as we now know it, in the 1920's and centred around the house of Aragon belonging to an Anglo-Irish family. At the centre of everything is the housekeeper/nurse Nan who controls and runs everything and is seemingly all powerful. Nan is an unpopular bridge between the Irish and the ruling elite Anglo-Irish but she represents a bridge that can't last for much longer.

Molly Keane's sharp and ruthless eye for human detail and the things that make a personality tick are a joy to read. Her observations on the lives of others and the foolish things people do have a strong ring of truth and humour. The darker parts of the story of the IRA at times don't sit well with her black humour and the merciless detail in which she describes the petty domestic cruelties of the big house. But her descriptions of the countryside, the house haunted by ancestors and horses and horse-riding are effortlessly rendered. It makes this book a very easy but fulfilling read.