Description
In a large Victorian house where servants and “respectable” neighbors circulate like clockwork, Duncan Edgeworth rules his family with a cold, calculating authority—controlling them through money, approval, and fear. As Christmas and illness bring tensions to the surface, the household’s brittle civility fractures into sharp, elliptical exchanges that reveal how power is inherited as much as property. With no son to carry on his name, Duncan’s looming succession to a nephew turns every relationship into a negotiation of loyalty, resentment, and survival. In Ivy Compton-Burnett’s distinctive, dialogue-driven style, the novel becomes an unsparing study of family politics and the psychological, economic, and moral costs of domination.
Available Editions
hardcover
David & Charles
Published Jan 1, 1966
276 pages
ISBN: 9780575015791
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Details
First Published
1935
Language
eng
Content Warnings
No content warnings identified.