Good Behaviour
Published on 4. August 2011
Book
Hardback
304 pages
978-1-84408-762-4 (ISBN)
Description
I do know how to behave - believe me, because I know. I have always known...'
Behind the gates of Temple Alice the aristocratic Anglo-Irish St Charles family sinks into a state of decaying grace. To Aroon St Charles, large and unlovely daughter of the house, the fierce forces of sex, money, jealousy and love seem locked out by the ritual patterns of good behaviour. But crumbling codes of conduct cannot hope to save the members of the St Charles family from their own unruly and inadmissible desires.
Behind the gates of Temple Alice the aristocratic Anglo-Irish St Charles family sinks into a state of decaying grace. To Aroon St Charles, large and unlovely daughter of the house, the fierce forces of sex, money, jealousy and love seem locked out by the ritual patterns of good behaviour. But crumbling codes of conduct cannot hope to save the members of the St Charles family from their own unruly and inadmissible desires.
Reviews / Votes
I really wish I had written this book. It's a tragi-comedy set in Ireland after the First World War. A real work of craftsmanship, where the heroine is also the narrator, yet has no idea what is going on. You read it with mounting horror and hilarity as you begin to grasp her delusion * Hilary Mantel * I have read and re-read Molly Keane more, I think, than any other writer. Nobody else can touch her as a satirist, tragedian, and dissector of human behaviour. I love all her books, but Good Behaviour and Loving and Giving are the ones I return to most * Maggie O'Farrell * ** 'An extraordinary tour de force * VOGUE ** ''A witty, black comedy of manners... a memorable novel by an Irish writer whose only equal is Elizabeth Bowen.' * BOOKSELLER ** 'A fine novel, wickedly alive * VICTORIA GLENDINNING, SUNDAY TIMES ** 'Enchanting' * EDNA O'BRIEN, OBSERVER ** 'May well become a classic among English novels * NEW YORK TIMES ** 'The very best of Anglo-Irish writing' * CLARE BOYLANMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Little, Brown Book Group
Dimensions
Height: 137 mm
Width: 200 mm
Thickness: 27 mm
Weight
426 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-84408-762-4 (9781844087624)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
08/2011
Virago Press Ltd
€5.99
Available for download
Persons
Molly Keane was born in Co. Kildare, Ireland, in 1904 into a 'rather serious Hunting and Fishing Church-going family' who gave her little education at the hands of governesses. Molly Keane's interests when young were 'hunting and horses and having a good time'; she began writing only to supplement her dress allowance. She died in 1996.