From the author of instant bestseller Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, comes a highly readable, witty tale of unwanted inheritance, uptight Britishness and the preservation of a lost way of life. January 2012 MEGA Book of the Month.

Comparison: Alexander McCall Smith, David Lodge, Colin Bateman
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Synopsis

Ed Hartlepool has been living in self-imposed exile for five years, but with a settlement regarding his inheritance looming, he must return to his ancestral seat, Hartlepool Hall. On his return, he discovers that his father has left him, along with the house, a seven million pound tax bill, two massive overdrafts, an 80-year-old butler, and a vast country estate that is creaking at the seams. Not only that, but there is a strange woman in residence - Lady Alice - who seems to have made herself very much at home. With the debts mounting, it seems that Ed's only recourse is to turn to his friend Annabel's new boyfriend, a property developer who plans to turn Hartlepool Hall into luxury flats and a golf course. But can Ed save his inheritance without such a drastic move? And is Lady Alice really the person she claims to be?

Reviews

'More intriguing is the skein of darkness that, in common with much of Torday's fiction, runs discretely through the story - one sequence is sufficently macabre as to recall the work of a young McEwan.' -- Jonathan Barnes Literary Review

'if you liked his previous efforts then you'll enjoy this too.' - Voyager

'it grabs you right from page one and is another great read from the author of Salmon Fishing in the Yemen' - Essentials

About the Author

Paul Torday was born in 1946 and read English Literature at Pembroke College, Oxford. He spent the next 30 years working in engineering and in industry, after which he scaled back his business responsibilities to fulfil a long-harboured ambition - to write. He burst on to the literary scene in 2006 with his first novel, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, an immediate bestseller that has been sold in 25 countries. He is married with two sons by a previous marriage and has two stepsons and lives close to the River North Tyne. More books by this author Author 'Like for Like' recommendation