Set at the time of the Suez Crisis in 1956, this beguiling and blackly comic novel depicts the lives of a crumbling family of die-hard imperialists.

“Mrs Covington, a former grand lady of the Raj, lives in isolation with her granddaughter, Julia, who is being kept in a state of innocence – which, inevitably, is shattered by the encroaching world… there are many pleasures, from the author’s keen observation of Fifties mores to his beautifully crafted style. By the end, the mood of gentle regret and a sense of living in a time out of place resembles no writer so much as Chekhov.”
Alex Larman, The Observer