Ivy Compton-Burnett

Set in the claustrophobic world of Edwardian upper-class family life, it is the story of the self-willed and arrogant Hereward Egerton. In his marriage to Ada Merton he maintains a veneer of respectability but through his intimate relationships with her sister, Emmeline, and his son's future wife, Hetty, he steps beyond the bounds of conventional morality with both comic and tragic results.

"A House and Its Head is Ivy Compton-Burnett's subversive look at the politics of family life, and perhaps the most unsparing of her novels. No sooner has Duncan Edgeworth's wife died than he takes a new, much younger bride whose willful ways provoke a series of transgressions that begins with adultery and ends, much to everyone's relief, in murder."--Publisher's description.

At the centre of this novel stands Harriet Haslam, the epitome of the maternal power figure,whose genuine but overpowering love dominates the novel and whose self-knowledge drives her into insanity. Even after her death Harriet continues to dominate. Surrounding this central figure are a host of marvelously realised characters - Sir Geoffrey Haslam, Harriet's husband, an innocent self-deluder; Dominic Spong, a hypocrite whose platitudes do not quite conceal his powerful self-interest; Agatha Calkin whose benevolent maternalism nearly hides the greediest of drives towards power; Lady Hardistry, the most outrageously witty of all sophisticates; Camilla Christy, a loose woman, dazzling, charming, and corrupt. Unlike Harriet Haslam, who will not spare herself the truth, the others are happier with their lies and can never achieve Harriet's grandeur.

Charles Merry is the senior schoolmaster at a small prep school for boys. He masks his shortcomings, and those of his staff and students, with bluster and bravado. The book explores themes of authenticity, loyalty, love, death, and friendship through dense passages that are often exclusively spoken dialog with minimal supporting text—a style that came to define the author’s future works. Rich with intriguing characters and cleverly constructed conversations, Pastors and Masters was published in 1925 and became the first breakthrough success for its author, Ivy Compton-Burnett. The book was critically acclaimed upon its release and hailed by the New Statesman as “like nothing else in the world” and “a work of genius.”