Hilary Mantel on the drawing-room depravity of Ivy Compton-Burnett
As pitiless as Austen, Compton-Burnett’s tales of 1930s Brits behaving badly escaped the perils of popularity . Now, they demand to be read
13 March 2021 • 11:00am Enough had happened to her, perhaps, for her to make up her mind what human beings were, or could be : Ivy Compton-Burnett
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Written by Ivy Compton-Burnett in 1935, A House and Its Head is the merriest tale of human depravity you will ever read. It begins on Christmas Day, 1885: it is breakfast time, and having prepared presents for the children, the patriarch prepares his weapons. When his wife observes that the children are down late, Duncan Edgeworth makes no reply. To further harmless pleasantries, he makes no reply either. But instead, “put his finger down his collar, and settled his neck”.