Loving and Giving

Virago Modern Classics, Book 223

By: Molly Keane

Narrated by: Aoife McMahon

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.©1988 The Estate of Molly Keane (P)2021 Hachette Audio UK

Narration

Excellent work by narrator couldn't save this grim story. There's no "fun" in this dysfunction.