The electrically witty story of a headmistress struggling to retain an iron grip on the hidden plots and allegiances in her girls’ school, reissued for the first time in decades.

This novel, first published in 1953, explores the tensions and secrets that simmer beneath the surface of a seemingly normal middle-class family. With razor-sharp dialogue and a biting wit, Compton-Burnett…

Jack Hardacre comes home on leave after three years in the army to find Milly, a pretty Londoner, billeted with his mother. He is immediately attracted, but becomes increasingly wretched…