Written in the author's characteristic dialogue-heavy style, the novel explores the power struggles within a large family household, presided over by its tyrannical matriarch, Sabine Ponsonby, and her imperious daughter Hetta.

Her son, John, a widower, is a well-known but struggling novelist who is unable to bring in enough income to support his large family: Clare, 25, France, 24, Chilton, 18, Victor, 17 and Muriel, 12.

The younger members of the family, having no independent means of their own, suffer under the crushing and manipulative rule of their grandmother Sabine and their aunt Hetta.

Believing that it is the governess who has won the prize, and that her literary talents will generate additional family income, she persuades her son to propose marriage.

Speaking of the novels as a whole, and of this one in particular, Alison Light in her book Forever England suggests that Compton-Burnett's fiction is a place where family ties subject us to the wills of others, and where we learn our first lessons in submission or tyranny.