Preparing to marry heir Charles Broughton, attractive accountant's daughter Edith Lavery makes humorous and astute observations about contemporary England's class system.

"Summering with a fellow schoolboy on a great English estate, Leo, the hero of L.P. Hartley's finest novel, encounters a world of unimagined luxury. But when his friend's beautiful older sister enlists him as the unwitting messenger in her illicit love affair, the aftershocks will be felt for years. The inspiration for the brilliant Joseph Losey/Harold Pinter film starring Julie Christie and Alan Bates, The Go-Between is a masterpiece - a richly layered,...

"The MacBrides lead a cozy life of upper class privilege: good looks (more or less), a beautiful home, tuition-free education at the prestigious private school where Rowan is headmaster, an altruistic righteousness inherited from magistrate Lydia. But when Rowan and his three grown children gather for the first time since Lydia's passing at the family's weekend home--a restored barn in the English countryside--years of secrets surface ... [and they]...

A compelling portrait of the perfect English butler, who, at the end of his career in postwar England, reviews his life and secretly questions the "greatness" of the nobleman he served. This Booker Prize-winning novel is now a Merchant-Ivory film starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson.

Intrigued by the ruined splendor of the Wideacre estate, Julia Lacey proceeds with her plans for its restoration and a romance with her cousin Richard, a course threatened by dark family legends. The Wideacre estate is bankrupt. The villagers are living in poverty and formerly stunning hall is a smoke-blackened ruin. But, in the Dower House nearby, two children are being raised in protected innocence. Equal claimants to the estate, rivals for the...

"It's London in 1876, and the whole city is abuzz with the enigmatic disappearance of a famous foreign pianist. Lenox has an eye on the matter - as a partner in a now-thriving detective agency, he's a natural choice to investigate. Just when he's tempted to turn his focus to it entirely, however, his grieving brother asks him to come down to Sussex, and Lenox leaves the metropolis behind for the quieter country life of his boyhood. Or so he thinks....

Strong-willed Beatrice Lacey refuses to conform to the limited life of an eighteenth-century woman. Threatened with the loss of her family name and beloved Wideacre estate once she is wed, she decides to take destiny into her own hands. Seduction, betrayal, even murder-Beatrice's passion is without apology or conscience. Yet even as Beatrice's scheming seems about to triumph, she is haunted by the one person who knows the extent of her plans...and...

Tells the story of a strong-willed and intelligent woman who refuses to allow the pretensions of her husband's smug English family to ruin her life, with criticism and notes on the work.