At Last

At Last is (appropriately enough) a final chapter in the acerbic, satirical yet moving sequence of novels by Edward St Aubyn concerning the life of Patrick Melrose. Born into a family that, teetering on the edge of immense wealth, could compete with the House of Atreus in terms of neuroses, Patrick has spent most of his time dealing with the fallout. His father, David, was a man “no more endearing than a chained Alsatian”; while his mother, Eleanor, was “that Mrs Jellyby whose telescopic philanthropy had saved so many Ethiopian orphans while her own child fell into the fire”. Patrick hasn’t so much fallen into the fire as been totally consumed.