Treasure Hunt


Book Description

'She was . . . marvellous' GUARDIAN 'Keane's distinctive blend of elegant savagery and deep affection' EVENING STANDARD 'I admired many authors. But Molly, I loved' DIANA ATHILL Angel, formidable hostess, social charmer and mother par excellence, confidently awaits the return of her little boy from the trials of war. She could not anticipate that the teenager who went away will return a grown man - bronzed and world-weary - a sophisticated American widow on his arm. Nor could she anticpate that her irrepressible daughter Slaney will similarly throw herself into romance (without asking her advice) and even her niece Tiddley will show an unexpected determination in getting on with her life. Faced with domestic insurrection on a grand scale, Angel will have to sharpen her wits to maintain her tyranny.




Mad Puppetstown


Book Description

'She was . . . marvellous' GUARDIAN 'I admired many authors. But Molly, I loved' DIANA ATHILL 'A writer of genius' WALL STREET JOURNAL In the early 1900s, Easter lives with her Aunt Brenda, her cousins Evelyn and Basil, and their Great-Aunt Dicksie in an imposing country house, Puppetstown which casts a spell over their childhood. Here they spend carefree days taunting the peacocks in Aunt Dicksie's garden, shooting snipe and woodcock, hunting, and playing with Patsy, the boot boy. But the house and its inhabitants are not immune to the 'little, bitter, forgotten war in Ireland' and when it finally touches their lives all flee to England. All except Aunt Dicksie who refuses to surrender Puppetstown's magic. She stays on with Patsy, living in a corner of the deserted house while in England the cousins are groomed for Society. But for two of them those wild, lost Puppetstown years cannot be forgotten.




Taking Chances


Book Description

BY THE AUTHOR SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 'She was . . . marvellous' GUARDIAN 'Molly Keane . . . is robust about sinful human nature and the intrigues of the heart' V. S. PRITCHET 'Keane's distinctive blend of elegant savagery and deep affection' EVENING STANDARD Those who suffered because of her might think of Mary that she hurt others, herself she could not hurt; but Jer, knowing her better . . . knew she hurt herself perhaps most deeply. Since the death of her parents, Roguey, Maeve and Jer have cared for one another and for Sorristown, their elegant home. Together they have fished and hunted, unravelled secrets by bedroom fires and sipped gin cocktails. But this pattern of intimacy is about to be broken by Maeve's marriage to Rowley. A week before the wedding, her bridesmaid Mary arrives. Meeting her for the first time Rowley describes Mary as a 'factor for disturbance', little realising the extent to which his prophecy will prove true for each of them.




Full House


Book Description

FROM THE AUTHOR SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 'She was . . . marvellous' GUARDIAN 'Keane's distinctive blend of elegant savagery and deep affection' EVENING STANDARD 'I admired many authors. But Molly, I loved' DIANA ATHILL Silverue - an enchanting Irish mansion - is owned by one of the most frightening mothers in fiction - the indomitable, oppressively girlish Lady Bird. Blessed with wealth and beautiful children she has little to worry about except the passing of the years and the return of her son John's sanity. To help her through the potentially awkward occasion of John's return from the asylum she has enlisted the support of Eliza, a woman she believes to be her confidante. But Eliza has her own secrets and John's homecoming will prove the catalyst for revelations which Lady Bird would much rather leave buried.




The Talisman


Book Description




Loving And Giving


Book Description

FROM THE SHORTLISTED AUTHOR FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 'Molly Keane is astonishing . . . an exquisitely written black comedy with a shock ending' GUARDIAN 'Quite the best book she has written' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'I admired many authors. But Molly, I loved' DIANA ATHILL In 1914, when Nicandra is eight, all is well in the grand Irish estate, Deer Forest. Maman is beautiful and adored. Dada, silent and small, mooches contendedly around the stables. Aunt Tossie, of the giant heart and bosom, is widowed but looks splendid in weeds. The butler, the groom, the landsteward, the maids, the men - each as a place and knows it. Then, astonishingly, the perfect surface is shattered; Maman does something too dreadful ever to be spoken of. 'What next? Who to love?' asks Nicaranda. And through her growing up and marriage her answer is to swamp those around her with kindness - while gradually the great house crumbles under a weight of manners and misunderstanding.




The Knight Of Cheerful Countenance


Book Description

'She was . . . marvellous' GUARDIAN 'I admired many authors. But Molly, I loved' DIANA ATHILL 'Keane's distinctive blend of elegant savagery and deep affection' EVENING STANDARD To Ballinrath House, where purple bog gives way to slate-coloured mountains, comes Allan to visit his Irish cousins. No sooner has he arrived than he falls in love with Cousin Ann, though it seems that she only has eyes for Captain Dennys St Lawrence.




Time After Time


Book Description

Durraghglass is a beautiful mansion in Southern Ireland, now crumbling in neglect. The time is the present - a present that churns with the bizarre passions of its owners' past. The Swifts - three sisters of marked eccentricity, defiantly christened April, May and Baby June, and their only brother, one-eyed Jasper - have little in common, save vivid memories of darling Mummy, and a long lost youth peculiarly prone to acts of treachery. Into their world comes Cousin Leda from Vienna, a visitor from the past, blind but beguiling - a thrilling guest. But within days, the lifestyle of the Swifts has been dramatically overturned - and desires, dormant for so long, flame fierce and bright as ever.




The Rising Tide


Book Description

BY THE AUTHOR SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE INTRODUCED BY POLLY DEVLIN 'Psychologically sharp, socially knowing and closely knit' IRISH TIMES 'She was . . . marvellous' GUARDIAN 'A writer of genius' WALL STREET JOURNAL One glorious gothic mansion - Garonlea - and two rather different ladies who would be Queen . . . Lady Charlotte French-McGrath has successfully ruled over her family with a rod of iron until the arrival of Cynthia: beautiful, young, talented, selfish - and engaged to her son Desmond. When Cynthia enters the Jazz Age, on the surface her life passes in a whirl of hunting, drinking and romance. But the ghosts of Garonlea are only biding their time: they know the source of their power, a secret handed on from one generation to the next.