Ed Hartlepool has been living in self-imposed exile for five years, but with a settlement regarding his inheritance looming, he must return to his ancestral seat, Hartlepool Hall. On his return, he discovers that his father has left him, along with the house, a seven million pound tax bill, two massive overdrafts, an 80-year-old butler, and a vast country estate that is creaking at the seams. Not only that, but there is a strange woman in residence at Hartlepool Hall who seems to have made herself very much at home. It turns out that 'Lady Alice' was his father's first mistress and she tells him more about his father than he ever discovered during his life. With the debts mounting, it seems that Ed's only recourse is to turn to his friend Annabel's new boyfriend, a property developer who plans to turn Hartlepool Hall into luxury flats and a golf course.
More intriguing is the skein of darkness that, in common with much of Torday's fiction, runs discretely through the story - one sequence is sufficently macabre as to recall the work of a young McEwan. -- Jonathan Barnes Literary Review 20111201 if you liked his previous efforts then you'll enjoy this too. -- N/A Voyager 20111201 it grabs you right from page one and is another great read from the author of Salmon Fishing in the Yemen -- N/A Essentials 20111201
Title: The legacy of Hartlepool Hall
Subtitle:
Contributors:
By (author)
Paul Torday
ISBN 13: 9780297863205
ISBN 10: 0297863207
Publisher: Orion Publishing Co
Imprint: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Publication Date: 10/01/2011
Place of Publication:
London,
United Kingdom
Edition:
BIC Subjects:
Modern fiction
Dewey Classification:
823.92
(DC23)
NBS Classification: General & Literary Fiction
Format: Hardback
Pages: 304
Height: 198mm
Width: 129mm
Thickness: 26mm
Weight: 380g