Listen free for 30 days
Listen with offer
-
Small Bomb at Dimperley
- Length: Not Yet Known
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.00 for first 30 days
Small Bomb at Dimperley
Pre-order Now for £27.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Summary
Brought to you by Penguin.
It’s 1945, there’s a brand-new Labour government, and Valentine Vere-Thissett, aged 23, is returning home from an undistinguished war, spent in the ranks. But following the death of his heroic older brother, and to his horror, Valentine is now Sir Valentine, seventh Baronet and extremely reluctant heir to Dimperley Manor, a gigantic liability, devoid of income, sodden with debt and half-filled with stuffed animals and dependent relatives – the latter intent on clinging to an impossibly outdated way of life.
Despite Valentine’s efforts, it takes an outsider to finally work out that Dimperley can only be saved when the inhabitants accept that the world has changed irrevocably, and that they must make at least a tiny attempt to change with it…
Brilliantly plotted and deeply touching, The Big House is a both a love story and a sharply-observed portrait of era of seismic change, which will delight all those fans who have loved Old Baggage, V for Victory and Their Finest Hour and a Half.
Critic reviews
'An irresistible novel which combines a crumbling once-grand house, bumbling aristos clinging to the pre-war past, and the magnificent Zena Baxter, one of my all-time favourite heroines. This is Lissa Evans at the peak of her mighty powers' (India Knight)
'Funny poignant, perfect period detail…it’s as if Barbara Pym and Evelyn Waugh had a secret love-child…Heaven!' (Daisy Goodwin)
'A glorious read. I laughed many times rejoicing in the wit, cleverness and humanity' (Elizabeth Buchan)
'This is better than Wodehouse, in my humble opinion, because it's believable as well as funny … Lissa Evans is a great comic writer and her portrait of an aristocratic family trying to cling to its privileges in the unforgiving aftermath of WW2 is all the funnier for being generous, touching and romantic rather than mean' (Clare Chambers)
'I loved this. Brilliantly funny, moving and joyous. Also, there’s a perfect moment – when one character moves from liking someone to love' (Catherine Johnson)