Past Imperfect
From the creator of DOWNTON ABBEY and THE GILDED AGE
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3.9 • 12 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
FROM THE CREATOR OF DOWNTON ABBEY and THE GILDED AGE
A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
'A gloriously funny ride through modern times' Evening Standard
Damian Baxter is very, very rich. But he has but one concern, which is becoming more urgent at the weeks go by: who should inherit his fortune.
A letter from an ex-girlfriend suggests that, as a young man, Damian may have fathered a child, but the letter is anonymous.
Finding the truth will not be easy - and the only man who Damian can turn to for help also happens to be his sworn enemy...
'A must-read' Sunday Express
'An elegant satire, it offers an entertaining commentary on our times and a heartfelt lament for a kinder, more courteous Britain' Tatler
'A witty take on the world as it was and is now' Woman & Home
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A middle-aged Londoner is forced to revisit his past in Fellowes's slick and dexterous second novel (after the bestselling Snobs). Former friend Damian Baxter, after 40 years of estrangement, convinces the unnamed narrator to locate the woman Damian believes to have borne his child in 1968. As the narrator looks back on the events of that fateful summer, Fellowes exercises his considerable talent for observing the nuances of custom and class distinction. Especially interesting are the frequent digressions to consider the peculiar juncture of their "safe little, nearly-pre-1939 world" with the Swinging Sixties. In the narrator's circle of friends-who would fit comfortably into a Trollope novel-the ossified conventions of the upper class still hold sway, yet the '60s make an appearance as well, enlivening a debutante party with surprise hash brownies. We quickly discover that middle-class Damian (a "social mountaineer") managed to insinuate himself into this smart set until a terrible scene tears apart the group of friends. Deservedly compared to Tom Wolfe, Fellowes, with his ability to document the aristocracy with a sociologist's eye, fashions intriguing narratives.
