First published in 1931 under Molly Keane’s longtime pseudonym M. J. Farrell, Mad Puppetstown is a darkly comic Anglo-Irish novel on the social rituals of a class living beyond its historical moment.

At its centre is the Chevir family and their ramshackle Irish country house, Puppetstown: a world of horses, hunting, children, eccentric relatives, romantic entanglements and increasingly unstable money. Keane’s great trick is tonal. The household can seem absurdly lively and almost enchanted, but the comedy is constantly being shadowed by economic decline, emotional cruelty and everyone embodying this sense that this entire way of life is disappearing.

All the domestic chaos in it is deeply charming. You'll recognise the affection and hostility sharing a room without anyone bothering to separate them. An early novel, but already full of the social observation, black humour and unsentimental treatment of family for which Keane became known.

Virago Press, London, 1985. First Virago Modern Classics edition, with an introduction by Polly Devlin. Paperback. Moderate shelf wear and rubbing to covers and edges, with light creasing and age-toning. Internally clean; binding firm. Good condition.