Habits of the House

For fans of Downton Abbey comes a ravishing portrait of the late 19th Century family from one of Britain's best-loved authors.Fay Weldon's new novel takes us inside the lives of an aristocratic household in the last three months of the nineteenth century. It's a time of riot and confusion, social upheaval, war abroad and shortage of money. Tea gowns are still laced with diamonds; there are still nine courses at dinner, but bankruptcy looms for the Dilbernes. Whilst the Earl, gambler and man about town, must seek a new post in government; his wife Lady Isobel's solution is to marry off their son Arthur to a wealthy heiress, and without delay. But how? It's the end of the season, and choices are few. There's Minnie O'Brien from Chigaco rich enough, but daughter of a stockyard baron, and with a vulgar mother and dubious past. Hardly suitable...! Fay Weldon tells this tale of restraint and desire, manners and morals with wit and sympathy if no small measure of mischief as young Minnie and Arthur, thrown together by their parents, strive to determine their own destiny.