A Family and a Fortune - Ivy Compton-Burnett

"Ivy Compton-Burnett's unique genius lay in her ability to convey, using the delicate undertones of drawing-room conversation, the major experiences of life and the intrinsic emotions of the heart. In A Family and a Fortune, through the central characters of Edgar Gaveston, his selfless younger brother Dudley, and the embittered Matilda Seaton, she examines the bizarre and terrible effects of death and inheritance."