Another severe and wonderfully acerbic book by Ivy Compton-Burnett. We begin looking at a rich family in which the father of several daughters and a son, a widower, is pursuing a wife. This potential marriage is fragile at best as each child has their turn dissecting and interrogating both potential step-mother, their father, and additionally as the father’s own mother has her say too. This is how the book flows. A situation occurs and various actors within the situation interrogate it with acidic precision, unemotional […]
“Agnes first, Hengist second, Leah third!” said Lavinina Middleton, as her sisters and brother contested the access to the cloakroom in the hall.
The Mighty and their Fall by Ivy Compton-Burnett
