A House and Its Head

A House and Its Head is a brilliantly icy comedy of cruelty from the 'original, artful and elegant' Ivy Compton-Burnett – so admired by Hilary Mantel. In the late‑Victorian Edgeworth household, everything appears orderly: a prosperous country house, an upright master, a dutiful wife and well‑brought‑up children. Behind the decorum, Duncan Edgeworth rules by sarcasm and command, his quiet tyranny shaping every conversation. When illness, death and a hasty remarriage bring beautiful young Alison into the house, buried rivalries flare – over love, money and who will inherit. As secrets multiply and alliances shift, even the nursery becomes a battleground… As with Manservant and Maidservant, the author's depth and distinctive wit is captured by Emma Gregory, whose facility for the pithy dialogue of multiple characters is a listener's gift. 'Shrewd, sly, mordantly funny and magnificently odd, few literary voices are as distinctive, or as entertaining, as Ivy Compton-Burnett's.' Sarah Waters