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Prudence, at nineteen, is reckless, laughing, wild; the despair of her elderly guardians. With her best friend, the subversive but very female Peter, she rackets round the Irish countryside among her beloved horses and dogs. But she feels betrayed by Peter's growing interest in the new Master of Hounds, 'Saxon' Major Anthony Countless. And what is Prudence to make of handsome Toby Sage, neighbour, huntsman and accredited flirt? Or of an inexplicable haunting? First published in 1928, this high-spirited novel with its subtle erotic undercurrents, is a glorious story of a ramshackle, tolerant society and of Prudence's turbulent coming of age.
320 pages
First published April 1, 1928
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92 people want to read
About the author
M.J. Farrell
17 books7 followersM.J. Farrell is a pseudonym used by
Molly Keane
for her earlier published novels and plays.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 18, 2022
This was my first Molly Keane novel. I started off really enjoying it but found myself getting a tad bored around the halfway mark. It is certainly well-written and I will read more of her. I think perhaps the timing was a little off for me and this book; I just wasn’t in the mood for 1920’s frivolity.
August 17, 2018
Nineteen-year-old Prudence is the focal point in this quite readable coming-of-age novel set in Ireland. It features an aristocratic set with their horses and hounds on a fox hunt. Prudence gets around the countryside with her good friend Peter while she's feeling a growing attraction to her neighbor Toby. I enjoyed this charming story featuring beautifully-phrased descriptions of the landscape and depicting snippets of everyday life.
October 22, 2015
A wonderful coming of age novel among the aristocracy and fox hunting.
Prudence , at nineteen is reckless, laughing and wild to the despair of her elderly guardians.
Her best friend the female Peter have great fun riding to hounds and their beloved dogs.
Told with humour and wit.
I loved it.
Prudence , at nineteen is reckless, laughing and wild to the despair of her elderly guardians.
Her best friend the female Peter have great fun riding to hounds and their beloved dogs.
Told with humour and wit.
I loved it.
July 28, 2025
This was a fun time capsule. Boy, did they smoke a lot! And the hunting lingo is just . . . I mean . . . has anyone thought of providing translations to modern readers?
"Toby is just a little too fond of a hunt to be a good huntsman. Lift them to my holloa, will he? When they're hunting in covert, perhaps. What a liberty! Well, God help me if I tally a cub away; I wish Peter was here--she'd know the difference." (p. 258)
I have no idea why she thinks Toby won't be able to lift them to her holloa. Are they in too open of a space? Is it because they're still untrained young cubs?
I think the title refers to hounds or horses early in their careers, so presumably the analogy is to Prudence, who is finding her footing in the world of love. She is a surprisingly combination of knowledge and innocence, and her fights with her aunts about wearing pants and being without a chaperone are quite amusing.
"Well, I'm blowed! Does she expect me to produce a kitten, nine months from the day I drive fifty miles alone with a young man? Evil-minded old tripe!" (p. 151)
There was slightly more scandal than I expected, with open acknowledgment of sex and the rather lusty silk-pajamas scene at the end. (Silk pajamas make multiple appearances, and these ones are jade colored--so Twenties.)
Prudence and Peter were both very confident in their knowledge of horses and hounds and all the other things that these country people were into, and though they mentioned being written off by other men, the men they liked respected their opinions. Prudence was very good at naming horses, and Toby was appropriately appreciative of her puns.
Toby choked. "You're a nasty, brazen girl, aren't you? What'll Gus say to such a lewd name?" Prudence hardly raised her heavy eye-lids. "'Suspenders'," she murmured again, "by 'Suspension', out of a mare called 'Look-again'." (p. 131)
"Out of your good old mare, 'Familiarity,' is he? She's done you proud, Toby. You'll call him 'Contempt,' won't you?" "'Contempt'?"--Toby was puzzled. "'Familiarity breeds Contempt,'" Prudence reminded him. "By Jove, Prudence! You're a topper to christen a horse," Toby told her. (p. 256)
Peter very practically analyzed whether she should marry Anthony or remain single: "Anthony is obviously getting interested, I'd be a fool not to encourage it. Still"--her mind went forward three years--"if I keep in with Prudence she'll be able to do most things for me--some day; will, too. She's like that. Going about with Prudence isn't really much catch though, for another girl. She's always the centre of every show. Still, I'd meet masses more people. Anthony's old, well, getting on. How old, I wonder? Thirty-five, about . . . " (p. 216)
Tea was a meal which Gus thoroughly understood. Therefore, on the white cloth-covered table (the fashion of bare mahogany did not prevail at Lingarry) were many good and pleasant things to eat. There were honey and blackberry jam; the butter--made daily--tasted like Devonshire cream. The was griddle bread, and little flat hot cakes that you might butter for yourself, as thickly as you pleased. A great fruit-cake gaped richly beneath its pent-house of almond paste; and brandy snaps curled, thin as paper and a little greasy, on an old blue and white patterned plate. In the centre of the table a huge silver cup, engraved with a good horse's name, held late-flowering roses--quantities of them. (p. 149)
"Toby is just a little too fond of a hunt to be a good huntsman. Lift them to my holloa, will he? When they're hunting in covert, perhaps. What a liberty! Well, God help me if I tally a cub away; I wish Peter was here--she'd know the difference." (p. 258)
I have no idea why she thinks Toby won't be able to lift them to her holloa. Are they in too open of a space? Is it because they're still untrained young cubs?
I think the title refers to hounds or horses early in their careers, so presumably the analogy is to Prudence, who is finding her footing in the world of love. She is a surprisingly combination of knowledge and innocence, and her fights with her aunts about wearing pants and being without a chaperone are quite amusing.
"Well, I'm blowed! Does she expect me to produce a kitten, nine months from the day I drive fifty miles alone with a young man? Evil-minded old tripe!" (p. 151)
There was slightly more scandal than I expected, with open acknowledgment of sex and the rather lusty silk-pajamas scene at the end. (Silk pajamas make multiple appearances, and these ones are jade colored--so Twenties.)
Prudence and Peter were both very confident in their knowledge of horses and hounds and all the other things that these country people were into, and though they mentioned being written off by other men, the men they liked respected their opinions. Prudence was very good at naming horses, and Toby was appropriately appreciative of her puns.
Toby choked. "You're a nasty, brazen girl, aren't you? What'll Gus say to such a lewd name?" Prudence hardly raised her heavy eye-lids. "'Suspenders'," she murmured again, "by 'Suspension', out of a mare called 'Look-again'." (p. 131)
"Out of your good old mare, 'Familiarity,' is he? She's done you proud, Toby. You'll call him 'Contempt,' won't you?" "'Contempt'?"--Toby was puzzled. "'Familiarity breeds Contempt,'" Prudence reminded him. "By Jove, Prudence! You're a topper to christen a horse," Toby told her. (p. 256)
Peter very practically analyzed whether she should marry Anthony or remain single: "Anthony is obviously getting interested, I'd be a fool not to encourage it. Still"--her mind went forward three years--"if I keep in with Prudence she'll be able to do most things for me--some day; will, too. She's like that. Going about with Prudence isn't really much catch though, for another girl. She's always the centre of every show. Still, I'd meet masses more people. Anthony's old, well, getting on. How old, I wonder? Thirty-five, about . . . " (p. 216)
Tea was a meal which Gus thoroughly understood. Therefore, on the white cloth-covered table (the fashion of bare mahogany did not prevail at Lingarry) were many good and pleasant things to eat. There were honey and blackberry jam; the butter--made daily--tasted like Devonshire cream. The was griddle bread, and little flat hot cakes that you might butter for yourself, as thickly as you pleased. A great fruit-cake gaped richly beneath its pent-house of almond paste; and brandy snaps curled, thin as paper and a little greasy, on an old blue and white patterned plate. In the centre of the table a huge silver cup, engraved with a good horse's name, held late-flowering roses--quantities of them. (p. 149)
November 20, 2016
I read this author because she is written about by Diana Athill in her book Stet and I had never read any of her works before. Just a lovely story - character sketch- of the Upper Class Anglo-Irish. Fun characters with lots of stories of hounds and the hunt.
February 24, 2012
Thank you librarians for changing the author to Molly Keane (M.J.Farrell)
October 17, 2020
An early work of Molly Keane’s; of its time. 🤨
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June 15, 2025Will be interested to read later novels of her. This one is a pretty well-done, straightforward fox hunting romance. So next I'll have to do a later one to see the evolution.
March 15, 2014
This is really a three and a half stars.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews