The House of Trelawney

​This is another novel in the mould of Evelyn Waugh’s “Brideshead Revisited". Trelawney is a ruinous Cornish mansion that has been inhabited for 800 years by the same line of dysfunctional and eccentric aristocrats and served by an ever-diminishing coterie of obsequious servants.
 
Set at the time of the Global Financial Crisis in 2008, the House is on its last legs after the 24th Earl frittered away the last of the family’s coffers. Jane is married to Kitto, the heir, but does most of the housework. Kitto heads up a small bank and experiments with dodgy investments, while his parents soldier on in some remote Edwardian era, either blissfully unaware or, more like, in total denial that there is no longer a butler, footmen, maids, etc. to attend to their needs. The other main thread of the story involves the dynamic Blaze, Kitto’s sister, who works in high finance in London. And then there is the mysterious and exotic Ayesha, whose arrival from India sets in motion a series of changes for everyone.
 
Much of the writing is a delight in its descriptions of the decrepitude of both house and its elderly residents, plus various connected characters. Countess Clarissa is a hoot, especially when she comes into her own in the later chapters. Aunt Tuffy, who studies fleas, is likewise another charming oddball. But you do feel for the long-suffering Jane, a frustrated artist, who was married for her money that is now all gone. Blaze is cool, insular, sharp-edged. She has warned her peers about the impending financial crash but when it finally arrives, any feelings of vindication are muted when she is ambushed romantically by a fellow high-flyer.
 
The dialogue in the chapters on the GFC slow down the narrative, especially if one has forgotten all that sub-prime mortgages and Lehman Brothers business or is not au fait with City banking jargon. (The author’s surname might provide a clue to this expertise, although she states in her notes that any resemblance to her family is purely coincidental.) Otherwise, this is an often funny and entertaining read.
 
Three-and-a-half Stars.


Dymocks Australia
 
amazon.com
 
amazon.co.uk

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