We kept our heads above the morass, stifled screaming despairs only by the exercise of Good Behaviour.
Behind the gates of Temple Alice, the aristocratic Anglo-Irish St Charles family is sinking into a state of decaying grace. Aroon, the unlovely daughter of the house, silently longs for affection and approval - neither of which are to be found from her icily elegant mother or her hunting-obsessed father. The fierce forces of sex, money, jealousy and love seem shut out by the rituals of Good Behaviour. But crumbling codes of conduct cannot hope to save the St Charles family from their own dark secrets and unruly desires...
Introduced by Maggie O'Farrell
'Molly Keane is a mistress of wicked comedy' VOGUE
'Dark, complex, engaging . . . a wonderful tour de force' MARIAN KEYES
'I have read and re-read Molly Keane more, I think, than any other writer. Nobody else can touch her as a satirist, tragedian and dissector of human behaviour' MAGGIE O'FARRELL
'I really wish I had written this book...You read it with mounting horror and hilarity' HILARY MANTEL