Loving And Giving

(Paperback)

---

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

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.

Reviews

'Molly Keane is astonishing ... LOVING AND GIVING is perhaps her richest work yet, an exquisitely written black comedy with a shock ending. The language is eloquent and original, the descriptions divine' GUARDIAN 'This novel is a rare treat' IRISH TIMES 'Quite the best book she has written' DAILY TELEGRAPH

Author Bio

Born in Ireland in 1904 into a 'rather serious Hunting and Fishing Church-going family' who gave her little education at the hands of governesses, Molly's interests were 'hunting & horses & having a good time'; she began writing only to supplement her dress allowance. She died in 1996.