The Counterplot

by Hope Mirrlees

Plasencia was a square, medium-sized house of red brick, built some sixty years ago, in those days when ar-chitects knew a great deal about comfort, but cared so lit-tle about line that every house they designed, however spacious, was uncompromisingly a “villa.” Viewed from the front, it was substantial and home-like, and suggest-ed, even in the height of summer, a “merry Christmas” and fire-light glinting off the leaves of holly; from the back, however, it had a look of instability, of somehow being not firmly rooted in the earth—a cumbersome Ark, awkwardly perched for a moment on Ararat, before plunging with its painted wooden crew into the flood, and sailing off to some fantastic port.

340 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1924

About the author

Hope Mirrlees (1887-1978) was a British translator, poet and novelist. She published three novels in her lifetime, Madeleine: One of Love’s Jansenists (1919), The Counterplot (1924) and the fantasy novel Lud-in-the-Mist (1926); three volumes of poetry, including Paris: A Poem (1919), described by the critic Julia Briggs as "modernism's lost masterpiece"; and A Fly in Amber (1962), a biography of the British antiquarian Sir Robert Bruce Cotton.

Reviews

[Jordan]

that's right! i passed my exam and am living it up by reading TWO BOOKS AT ONCE. WHOOO-HOOOOO!!!!!

***

ohhhh dearrrrr. i returned this to the library after only 2 pages.

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mirrlees is best known for Lud in the Mist, an early fantasy novel. This one is almost completely different, but also beautifully written and against all odds, gripping.
It’s best described as a British Catholic country house novel in the tragic vein, with foreshadowings of Brideshead Revisited and a hint of Frost in May (including a reference to Madeleine Sophie Barat. Of course the girls went to the Sacred Heart. Of course they did). Three sisters: Pepa (not the pig), deceased leaving two children; Concha, lovely and conventional; and Teresa, torn up by her faith and her family. Teresa tries to understand the world and her place in it by writing a play about her family set in 14th century Castile. Available to read for free on Project Gutenberg. If anything I’ve written here makes it sound appealing, give it a try. It’s worth it.