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The first novel to be published in America by Henry Green who has already established a devotedly enthusiastic following among critics, connoisseurs. Green, whose art has been rightly compared with the pure naturalism of the early 18th century (Fielding, etc.), and who combines with that an occasional poetry, here has produced a comedy of life below stairs in Ireland, during the war. With a deadly fidelity to type and tongue, this reproduces the hierarchical household of Mrs. Tennant; Charley Raunce, promoted to butler after the passing of Mr. Eldon; Edith, the housemaid he loves, and Kate, whom he passes off on the pantry boy; Mrs. Welch, the cook, and Miss Swift, the nanny. From their unctuousness toward the Madam to the petty thievery on the household accounts they practice under her nose, from the scandal over the discovery of Mrs. Jack in bed with a lover to the common uneasiness over the disappearance of a sapphire ring, these things occupy this drama of little lives which also reflect more widespread patterns of privilege and prestige, custom and caste... Perhaps not for a wide public, but for those who have liked the also recently imported I. Compton-Burnett who bears a very close comparison in method and mood. (Kirkus Reviews)
