ABOUT
THE BOOK

Dorothea May’s peace is shattered by Kitty Levinson’s announcement of her granddaughter’s marriage. In her usual imperious style, Kitty expects Dorothea to put up the bridegroom’s friend, Steve Best, who turns out to be as feckless and self-centred as expected. As the wedding approaches, the truculent bride suddenly doubts the wisdom of her decision, and no one is sure whether the father of the bride will turn up at all. The scene is set for a highly charged conflict of generations in which the claims of the young are in stark contrast to the propriety of the old. Born in 1925, Anita Brookner is an art historian as well as a successful and respected novelist. She won the 1984 Booker Prize for Hotel du Lac and two of her later books have been nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.