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Das Fest
Sommer 1947. Das an den Klippen Cornwalls malerisch gelegene Hotel Pendizack wird durch einen Felssturz verschüttet, und alle, die sich im Haus befanden, liegen unter den Trümmern begraben. Nur diejenigen, die sich zum Zeitpunkt des Unglücks zu einem Fest am Strand versammelt haben, sind verschont geblieben. Kann das Zufall sein?
Eine Woche zuvor ist das heruntergekommene Herrenhaus, das die verarmten Pendizacks zum Hotel umfunktioniert haben, um die Ausbildung ihrer Söhne zu finanzieren, noch fast ohne Gäste. Nach und nach treffen Urlauber ein, unterschiedlichste Menschen, die sich ein einziges Badezimmer teilen mü die fünfköpfige Familie Gifford mit ihren besonderen Ansprüchen, die kapriziöse Schriftstellerin Anne Lechene und ihr Chauffeur, der furchteinflößende Geistliche Mr Wraxton mit seiner Tochter Evangeline. Ein jeder von ihnen, wie auch die Pendizacks, das lebenskluge Dienstmädchen Nancibel und die anderen Bediensteten, schlägt sich mit geheimen Sorgen herum und hat etwas zu verbergen. Vor der herrlichen Kulisse des offenen Meers bahnen sich Freundschaften, Romanzen, Fehden, Feindschaften an. Alles gipfelt in der Feier am Strand - und in der Frage, wer daran teilgenommen hat, um wie durch ein Wunder der Tragödie zu entgehen.
Eine Woche zuvor ist das heruntergekommene Herrenhaus, das die verarmten Pendizacks zum Hotel umfunktioniert haben, um die Ausbildung ihrer Söhne zu finanzieren, noch fast ohne Gäste. Nach und nach treffen Urlauber ein, unterschiedlichste Menschen, die sich ein einziges Badezimmer teilen mü die fünfköpfige Familie Gifford mit ihren besonderen Ansprüchen, die kapriziöse Schriftstellerin Anne Lechene und ihr Chauffeur, der furchteinflößende Geistliche Mr Wraxton mit seiner Tochter Evangeline. Ein jeder von ihnen, wie auch die Pendizacks, das lebenskluge Dienstmädchen Nancibel und die anderen Bediensteten, schlägt sich mit geheimen Sorgen herum und hat etwas zu verbergen. Vor der herrlichen Kulisse des offenen Meers bahnen sich Freundschaften, Romanzen, Fehden, Feindschaften an. Alles gipfelt in der Feier am Strand - und in der Frage, wer daran teilgenommen hat, um wie durch ein Wunder der Tragödie zu entgehen.
425 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1949
286 people are currently reading
8554 people want to read
About the author
Margaret Kennedy
40 books77 followersMargaret Kennedy was an English novelist and playwright.
She attended Cheltenham Ladies' College, where she began writing, and then went up to Somerville College, Oxford in 1915 to read history. Her first publication was a history book, A Century of Revolution (1922). Margaret Kennedy was married to the barrister David Davies. They had a son and two daughters, one of whom was the novelist Julia Birley. The novelist Serena Mackesy is her grand-daughter.
She attended Cheltenham Ladies' College, where she began writing, and then went up to Somerville College, Oxford in 1915 to read history. Her first publication was a history book, A Century of Revolution (1922). Margaret Kennedy was married to the barrister David Davies. They had a son and two daughters, one of whom was the novelist Julia Birley. The novelist Serena Mackesy is her grand-daughter.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 729 reviews
December 25, 2021
I just read an extraordinary book. I read it in less than 24 hours. About halfway through I was hooked and could not put it down until I knew how it ended.
Those are the books that you want to read! 🙂 🙃 🙂 🙃
The story concept was clever to my way of thinking (and it turns out to a gaggle of other people — I am not the only one who is crazy bonkers about this book).
Setting is postwar (World War II) Cornwall on the British Isles, 1947. We are told at the beginning of the story that an area near a cliff that has a small hotel on it falls down hundreds of feet and there are no survivors from those who were in the hotel. But we are also told there were people who had left the hotel prior to its demise. We are also told there are 7 deadly sins: 1) Pride, 2) Envy, 3) Sloth, 4) Wrath, 5) Lechery, 6) Gluttony, and 7) Covetousness. The implication was that those who were exemplars of those 7 deadly sins were in the hotel when it met its demise (and theirs). Who died? Who lived? That is what the rest of the novel is about, and we are left to guess who lived and who died. Throughout the book we are given clues. Some people seem destined to die but then we realize...not so fast.
Note:
• Here’s how she supposedly got her idea: The germ of the idea for The Feast - Margaret Kennedy's ninth novel and perhaps her most ingenious, first published in 1950 - came to the author in 1937 when she and a social gathering of literary friends were discussing the Medieval Masque of the Seven Deadly Sins. The talk turned excitedly to the notion that a collection of stories might be fashioned from seven different authors, each re-imagining one of the Sins through the medium of a modern-day character. That notion fell away, but something more considerable stayed in Margaret Kennedy's mind over the next ten years, and so she conceived of a story that would gather the Sins all under the roof of a Cornish seaside hotel managed by the unhappy wife of Sloth... Among The Feast's entertaining cast of characters are a clergyman, a gaggle of adolescents and children, a quarter of lovers, and a clutch of frustrated husbands & wives - all serving Kennedy's dark and witty moral fable, which bears out the Biblical adage that many are called but only a very few chosen.
• Wow. I just figured out something!
• Other authors who reviewed this and who liked it included Elizabeth Bowen and Anita Brookner
Reviews (I am sorry for all the reviews but I want to convince you I am not alone in deeply admiring this book!!!:
• https://katevane.com/2021/06/02/book-...
• https://theidlewoman.net/2021/05/20/t...
• https://shereadsnovels.com/2018/04/23...
• http://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.co...
• https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2021...
Those are the books that you want to read! 🙂 🙃 🙂 🙃
The story concept was clever to my way of thinking (and it turns out to a gaggle of other people — I am not the only one who is crazy bonkers about this book).
Setting is postwar (World War II) Cornwall on the British Isles, 1947. We are told at the beginning of the story that an area near a cliff that has a small hotel on it falls down hundreds of feet and there are no survivors from those who were in the hotel. But we are also told there were people who had left the hotel prior to its demise. We are also told there are 7 deadly sins: 1) Pride, 2) Envy, 3) Sloth, 4) Wrath, 5) Lechery, 6) Gluttony, and 7) Covetousness. The implication was that those who were exemplars of those 7 deadly sins were in the hotel when it met its demise (and theirs). Who died? Who lived? That is what the rest of the novel is about, and we are left to guess who lived and who died. Throughout the book we are given clues. Some people seem destined to die but then we realize...not so fast.
Note:
• Here’s how she supposedly got her idea: The germ of the idea for The Feast - Margaret Kennedy's ninth novel and perhaps her most ingenious, first published in 1950 - came to the author in 1937 when she and a social gathering of literary friends were discussing the Medieval Masque of the Seven Deadly Sins. The talk turned excitedly to the notion that a collection of stories might be fashioned from seven different authors, each re-imagining one of the Sins through the medium of a modern-day character. That notion fell away, but something more considerable stayed in Margaret Kennedy's mind over the next ten years, and so she conceived of a story that would gather the Sins all under the roof of a Cornish seaside hotel managed by the unhappy wife of Sloth... Among The Feast's entertaining cast of characters are a clergyman, a gaggle of adolescents and children, a quarter of lovers, and a clutch of frustrated husbands & wives - all serving Kennedy's dark and witty moral fable, which bears out the Biblical adage that many are called but only a very few chosen.
• Wow. I just figured out something!
• Other authors who reviewed this and who liked it included Elizabeth Bowen and Anita Brookner
Reviews (I am sorry for all the reviews but I want to convince you I am not alone in deeply admiring this book!!!:
• https://katevane.com/2021/06/02/book-...
• https://theidlewoman.net/2021/05/20/t...
• https://shereadsnovels.com/2018/04/23...
• http://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.co...
• https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2021...
August 14, 2019
Revising my rating up to five stars. My default rating for a terrific book is four stars and I'm pretty grudging about giving five stars. Generally I know the minute I turn the last page that it's a five star, but some books creep up on me, take time for the artistry to really sink in. This one I read way back in October of 2014 and I'm still thinking about it and longing to read it again!
Clever Margaret Kennedy! Is it a thriller? Is it a morality play or an exploration of divine justice? Or is it a family/village saga and maybe even a romance?
Check all of the above. The Feast is also terrifically readable with a marvelous cast of characters. I was caught up right from the start when a conversation between two clergymen reveals the end of the story: the collapse of a cliff that buries a guest house and many of its inhabitants. We know that some died and some survived, but we don't know who until the very end.
The next chapter opens months earlier in the final week before the catastrophe. One after the other we meet the cast; some I loved from the start, others grew on me and went through changes that made me care for them, still others are revealed as rather evil and I found myself hoping that they would be the ones to die. Yes, I know--and that's the tricky part. It was thought-provoking and I found myself pondering the ending long after I put the book down.
Clever Margaret Kennedy! Is it a thriller? Is it a morality play or an exploration of divine justice? Or is it a family/village saga and maybe even a romance?
Check all of the above. The Feast is also terrifically readable with a marvelous cast of characters. I was caught up right from the start when a conversation between two clergymen reveals the end of the story: the collapse of a cliff that buries a guest house and many of its inhabitants. We know that some died and some survived, but we don't know who until the very end.
The next chapter opens months earlier in the final week before the catastrophe. One after the other we meet the cast; some I loved from the start, others grew on me and went through changes that made me care for them, still others are revealed as rather evil and I found myself hoping that they would be the ones to die. Yes, I know--and that's the tricky part. It was thought-provoking and I found myself pondering the ending long after I put the book down.
July 25, 2024
Absolutely wonderful, and not nearly as depressing as the blurb would have you believe. I devoured it in three sittings.
March 13, 2022
This didn’t do much for me.
*Its message is unclear.
*There are too many characters—none stood out for me as being special.
*The tone of the book is menacing and dark. I found it depressing.
Some authors are able to make a large cast of characters come alive. Some authors can make a dark book interesting because the message left is important. This book by Kennedy did not do either for me. It left me totally unmoved. I don’t have much else to say. This is in itself a criticism.
Colin Mace narrates the audiobook. The narration is OK, so two stars is my rating of the narration. I often had to listen several times to the text to understand that which is read. The narration did not wow me at all.
This book left me indifferent.
****************************
*The Feast 2 stars
*The Constant Nymph maybe
*Its message is unclear.
*There are too many characters—none stood out for me as being special.
*The tone of the book is menacing and dark. I found it depressing.
Some authors are able to make a large cast of characters come alive. Some authors can make a dark book interesting because the message left is important. This book by Kennedy did not do either for me. It left me totally unmoved. I don’t have much else to say. This is in itself a criticism.
Colin Mace narrates the audiobook. The narration is OK, so two stars is my rating of the narration. I often had to listen several times to the text to understand that which is read. The narration did not wow me at all.
This book left me indifferent.
****************************
*The Feast 2 stars
*The Constant Nymph maybe
August 9, 2024
I couldn't put this down and flew through it.
Re-read 9/8/24
Re-read 9/8/24
March 3, 2024
3.5 stars. reading vlog: https://youtu.be/AeLtAKWgtNQ
on reflection I can see this was a well-written classic - I was just a bit bored babes xxx
think i went into this with the wrong expectations and thought it would be a mystery, but I wouldn't really say it is - more of a literary character study with a hint of mystery
on reflection I can see this was a well-written classic - I was just a bit bored babes xxx
think i went into this with the wrong expectations and thought it would be a mystery, but I wouldn't really say it is - more of a literary character study with a hint of mystery
August 1, 2021
I bought a beat up old hardcover of this years ago just because I had liked another Margaret Kennedy book I had read. I finally picked it up the other night. I can't believe this delightful book has been simmering on my shelf for so long.
July 22, 2022
A reference on an episode of the Backlisted Podcast episode in July 2022 convinced me that I had to read Margaret Kennedy's The Feast (1949).
I devoured it in under 48 hours and, suffice to say, loved every second. It's a wonderful hybrid that is hard to pin down.
Andy Miller described it as a cross between Agatha Christie, the wonderful The Fortnight in September by R.C. Sherriff, One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downes, and Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal. That is a very good description which hints at the pleasure of this beguiling book.
Set in the Pendizack Manor Hotel in Cornwall in July 1947, it masquerades as a middle class catastrophe with some of the main characters representing a different deadly sin. We learn the denouement in the opening chapter. This device powerfully ratchets up the tension, for although we know what will happen we don't know who will die and who will survive.
If any of that sounds like your kind of thing, then I urge you to read this glorious Golden Age metaphysical morality tale.
5/5
The blurb…
Cornwall, Midsummer 1947. Pendizack Manor Hotel is buried in the rubble of a collapsed cliff. Seven guests have perished, but what brought this strange assembly together for a moonlit feast before this Act of God -- or Man? Over the week before the landslide, we meet the hotel guests in all their eccentric glory: and as friendships form and romances blossom, sins are revealed, and the cracks widen
I devoured it in under 48 hours and, suffice to say, loved every second. It's a wonderful hybrid that is hard to pin down.
Andy Miller described it as a cross between Agatha Christie, the wonderful The Fortnight in September by R.C. Sherriff, One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downes, and Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal. That is a very good description which hints at the pleasure of this beguiling book.
Set in the Pendizack Manor Hotel in Cornwall in July 1947, it masquerades as a middle class catastrophe with some of the main characters representing a different deadly sin. We learn the denouement in the opening chapter. This device powerfully ratchets up the tension, for although we know what will happen we don't know who will die and who will survive.
If any of that sounds like your kind of thing, then I urge you to read this glorious Golden Age metaphysical morality tale.
5/5
The blurb…
Cornwall, Midsummer 1947. Pendizack Manor Hotel is buried in the rubble of a collapsed cliff. Seven guests have perished, but what brought this strange assembly together for a moonlit feast before this Act of God -- or Man? Over the week before the landslide, we meet the hotel guests in all their eccentric glory: and as friendships form and romances blossom, sins are revealed, and the cracks widen
June 6, 2022
Originally published in 1950, this was reissued by Faber in 2021 with a foreword by Cathy Rentzenbrink – had she not made much of it, I’m not sure how well I would have recognized the allegorical framework of the Seven Deadly Sins. In August 1947, we learn, a Cornish hotel was buried under a fallen cliff, and with it seven people. Kennedy rewinds a month to let us watch the guests arriving, and to plumb their interactions and private thoughts. We have everyone from a Lady to a lady’s maid; I particularly liked the neglected Cove children. It took me until the very end to work out precisely who died and which (literally deadly) sin each one represented - . The characters and dialogue glisten. This is intelligent, literary yet light, and so makes great vacation/beach reading.
August 5, 2022
I have tried but I just can’t get into this. Too many characters and none I find myself caring about. It has many great reviews which is why I bought it but it’s just not for me.
July 26, 2016
I might describe The Feast, Margaret Kennedy’s ninth novel in many ways: a character study, a morality tale, a social comedy, an allegory. But, above all of that, I would describe it as very readable novel.
The setting is a cliff-top hotel on the north coast of Cornwall, not long after the war. It is a hotel that will be destroyed when the edge of the cliff crumbles. These things happen: there’s coastal erosion, and in this case there was a washed-up mine too. I knew all of this because two clergymen, meeting for their annual holiday, told me so in the prologue.
And so this is the story of the last seven days of the hotel at Pendizack Point.
There’s not much plot, but the story is driven very well by the disparate band of characters: visitors, hoteliers, and locals.
Mr and Mrs Siddal are the proprietors, and she’s nearly worn out trying to keep things going, because her husband is bone idle. She couldn’t manage without her boys, but they’re grown now, and ready to strike out on their own once the season is over. They do have a housekeeper, an impoverished gentlewoman, but Miss Ellis is a terrible snob, a vicious gossip and very selective about what she will and will not do. But they also have Nanciblel, who comes in daily from the village, and is a lovely girl, a real treasure.
Lady Gifford had sent very detailed instructions before she arrived, with her husband and her four children in tow. She was in poor health, the kind of poor health that required comfort, fine food, attention, and having everything her own way. Mrs Cove had no time for such things. She had lived through the blitz, she had kept her three children by her side, and now she was going to give them a good holiday. She presented herself as a paragon, but she was quite the opposite, and before the week was over she would reveal her true colours.
And then there was a quiet couple who had survived a terrible tragedy; a militant clergyman and his downtrodden daughter; and a hack novelist, accompanied by her very sociable secretary.
Margaret Kennedy had a wonderful talent for presenting characters simply, clearly, objectively, just showing them and leaving you to draw your own conclusions. She does that perfectly here, slowly revealing details and true natures, and her style and the ideas she is exploring in this book work together beautifully.
I loved the way that Lady Gifford and Mrs Cove were both revealed as monsters.
So much happened in in those seven days: two romances develop, a theft is uncovered, two daughters defy a parent for the first time, a dramatic intervention in at mass in the village church, the ground shifts in more than one marriage, a secret society recruits new members …
Margaret Kennedy understood the time, the place, and the people, and she handled everything – from the big dramatic scenes to the small but significant moments – with aplomb.
Everything was significant, everything worked together beautifully, and I found much to appreciate.
Most of all, I was caught up with the characters; loving some, infuriated by others, wishing and hoping for so many things.
On the seventh day … there was a feast!
The Cove children had dreamed of a feast, and some of the adults, who had seen how good they were and how dreadful their mother was took it upon themselves to organise one. It would be the grandest beach party you could imagine. There would be food, drink, balloons, fancy dress, and the Coves were so lovely that they invited absolutely everybody. Though, of course, not everybody came.
They were having a lovely, lovely time.
And then the cliff crumbled.
There were fatalities and there would be survivors.
But that was the end …
The setting is a cliff-top hotel on the north coast of Cornwall, not long after the war. It is a hotel that will be destroyed when the edge of the cliff crumbles. These things happen: there’s coastal erosion, and in this case there was a washed-up mine too. I knew all of this because two clergymen, meeting for their annual holiday, told me so in the prologue.
And so this is the story of the last seven days of the hotel at Pendizack Point.
There’s not much plot, but the story is driven very well by the disparate band of characters: visitors, hoteliers, and locals.
Mr and Mrs Siddal are the proprietors, and she’s nearly worn out trying to keep things going, because her husband is bone idle. She couldn’t manage without her boys, but they’re grown now, and ready to strike out on their own once the season is over. They do have a housekeeper, an impoverished gentlewoman, but Miss Ellis is a terrible snob, a vicious gossip and very selective about what she will and will not do. But they also have Nanciblel, who comes in daily from the village, and is a lovely girl, a real treasure.
Lady Gifford had sent very detailed instructions before she arrived, with her husband and her four children in tow. She was in poor health, the kind of poor health that required comfort, fine food, attention, and having everything her own way. Mrs Cove had no time for such things. She had lived through the blitz, she had kept her three children by her side, and now she was going to give them a good holiday. She presented herself as a paragon, but she was quite the opposite, and before the week was over she would reveal her true colours.
And then there was a quiet couple who had survived a terrible tragedy; a militant clergyman and his downtrodden daughter; and a hack novelist, accompanied by her very sociable secretary.
Margaret Kennedy had a wonderful talent for presenting characters simply, clearly, objectively, just showing them and leaving you to draw your own conclusions. She does that perfectly here, slowly revealing details and true natures, and her style and the ideas she is exploring in this book work together beautifully.
I loved the way that Lady Gifford and Mrs Cove were both revealed as monsters.
So much happened in in those seven days: two romances develop, a theft is uncovered, two daughters defy a parent for the first time, a dramatic intervention in at mass in the village church, the ground shifts in more than one marriage, a secret society recruits new members …
Margaret Kennedy understood the time, the place, and the people, and she handled everything – from the big dramatic scenes to the small but significant moments – with aplomb.
Everything was significant, everything worked together beautifully, and I found much to appreciate.
Most of all, I was caught up with the characters; loving some, infuriated by others, wishing and hoping for so many things.
On the seventh day … there was a feast!
The Cove children had dreamed of a feast, and some of the adults, who had seen how good they were and how dreadful their mother was took it upon themselves to organise one. It would be the grandest beach party you could imagine. There would be food, drink, balloons, fancy dress, and the Coves were so lovely that they invited absolutely everybody. Though, of course, not everybody came.
They were having a lovely, lovely time.
And then the cliff crumbled.
There were fatalities and there would be survivors.
But that was the end …
Read
February 20, 2024a 1940s white lotus. the story premise is that by end of week, a cliff will tumble down onto a seaside resort hotel, killing some of the guests staying there, yet we don't know who makes it and who doesn't until the very end. it's a nice beach read (i read this in february though) but i'd recommend writing down a list of characters and how they're all connected because there are over 24 of them in the book and some of them are referred to by different names too. i liked some of the characters over others, which made this a slow read for me... it's easy to digest but some of the storylines bored me to tears.
August 25, 2025
I was thinking recently of how much more difficult it used to be for a person who loved books, to find books they'd love. It was great if you could afford a trip to a bookstore, but even then you could never buy as much as you wanted to. I was mostly limited to what I could find at my local libraries, based on recommendations from nobody at all, because I didn't know anyone who read as much as I did. I hardly knew anyone who read at all.
But now, I mean now we have entire websites devoted to books and book reviews, we can see what hundreds of strangers thought of a book we're considering, and in the best cases we find like-minded bookish individuals with whom we can become (virtual) friends.
It was on the recommendation of one of those friends here on GR that I picked up The Feast, a book that I'd have never come across in the earlier, non-digital era of reading. I am so glad I did now.
You know the ending of this story within the first few pages - a cliff collapses and crushes a small hotel, killing everyone in it. What we don't know is which of the guests and staff were mercifully out at the time. Who lived, who died - remains a secret until the very end. The pages in between were absolutely and entirely absorbing.
My one complaint about The Feast, and it's not even a complaint because I think it worked well here - is that some of the unlikeable characters were so flat-out bad. Normally this would annoy me but in this case, I loved hating those characters. It was fun in a maddening way to see just how terrible they could be.
Overall a highly enjoyable book, so many insightful moments, and through it all the suspense of - when is that cliff going to fall? Why most of us have never heard of Margaret Kennedy is anyone's guess.
But now, I mean now we have entire websites devoted to books and book reviews, we can see what hundreds of strangers thought of a book we're considering, and in the best cases we find like-minded bookish individuals with whom we can become (virtual) friends.
It was on the recommendation of one of those friends here on GR that I picked up The Feast, a book that I'd have never come across in the earlier, non-digital era of reading. I am so glad I did now.
You know the ending of this story within the first few pages - a cliff collapses and crushes a small hotel, killing everyone in it. What we don't know is which of the guests and staff were mercifully out at the time. Who lived, who died - remains a secret until the very end. The pages in between were absolutely and entirely absorbing.
My one complaint about The Feast, and it's not even a complaint because I think it worked well here - is that some of the unlikeable characters were so flat-out bad. Normally this would annoy me but in this case, I loved hating those characters. It was fun in a maddening way to see just how terrible they could be.
Overall a highly enjoyable book, so many insightful moments, and through it all the suspense of - when is that cliff going to fall? Why most of us have never heard of Margaret Kennedy is anyone's guess.
June 20, 2021
Warning – don’t read the introduction first! Far too much is given away. But make sure to read it afterwards as it definitely illuminates the novel’s themes.
What can I say? This is just fabulous. I enjoyed every single perfectly formed sentence. It’s so clever and witty and funny and sad and tragic. A superb comedy of manners – or perhaps tragedy of manners is more apt. It’s been hailed as the perfect staycation summer read, but in my opinion this diminishes it, as it makes it sound like some lightweight beach read. And it’s really not. It’s far darker than any beach read, far more sinister with some truly evil characters and some sadly wasted lives. Cornwall 1947: the drab and still rationed post-war period. The Pendizack Manor Hotel and a motley crew of guests descend. But theirs is not destined to be an idyllic summer holiday for we are told within a couple of pages that the hotel is doomed to be destroyed in a landslide – and there will be fatalities. So as we get to know proprietors and guests the impending disaster looms over them and us. First published in 1950 it’s wonderful to see this much deserved re-issue.
What can I say? This is just fabulous. I enjoyed every single perfectly formed sentence. It’s so clever and witty and funny and sad and tragic. A superb comedy of manners – or perhaps tragedy of manners is more apt. It’s been hailed as the perfect staycation summer read, but in my opinion this diminishes it, as it makes it sound like some lightweight beach read. And it’s really not. It’s far darker than any beach read, far more sinister with some truly evil characters and some sadly wasted lives. Cornwall 1947: the drab and still rationed post-war period. The Pendizack Manor Hotel and a motley crew of guests descend. But theirs is not destined to be an idyllic summer holiday for we are told within a couple of pages that the hotel is doomed to be destroyed in a landslide – and there will be fatalities. So as we get to know proprietors and guests the impending disaster looms over them and us. First published in 1950 it’s wonderful to see this much deserved re-issue.
Read
October 14, 2022An engaging, delightful book that's a bit of a puzzle, in the best way. I checked out this novel from the library, then bought my own copy, because I wanted to own it for myself.
September 9, 2024
Cornwall, Sommer 1947: An der malerischen Küste gelegen ist das Hotel Pendizack. Die Inhaberfamilie hat ihr altes, baufälliges Herrenhaus in ein Hotel umfunktionierten, damit zwei der Söhne eine gute Schulbildung genießen können. In diesem August versammeln sich die verschiedensten Menschen im Hotel: Eine Schriftstellerin mit ihrem Chauffeur, eine verarmte Witwe mit ihren drei Töchtern, reiche Eheleute mit ihren Adoptivkindern, ein jähzorniger Geistlicher mit seiner verschreckten Tochter, die Pendizacks selbst und ihr Dienstpersonal. Alle haben Wünsche und Geheimnisse, manche dunkler als andere. Alles gipfelt in ein großes Fest am Strand - und in den Einsturz der Klippen, der das Hotel samt Gäste unter sich begräbt.
"Das Fest" von Margaret Kennedy (1896–1967), übersetzt von Mirjam Madlung, ist eine unterhaltsame literarische Wiederentdeckung mit Krimielementen. Die Autorin spart nicht an Übertreibungen, all ihre Hotelgäste haben etwas zu verbergen, während sie sich auf engstem Raum begegnen. Das Hotel an der idyllischen Küste Cornwalls bietet ein atmosphärisches Setting, ich liebe Romane, die in England in ländlichen Gegenden am Meer spielen. Es hat Spaß gemacht, die vielen verschiedenen Charaktere und ihre Hintergründe kennenzulernen, besonders gerne mochte ich dabei die Bedienstete Nancibel. In der Mitte des Buchs macht der Spannungsbogen leider einen Knick nach unten, die Geschichte plätschert dahin. Zum Finale hin, in dem die Autorin über ihre Figuren richtet und manche ihrem Schicksal überlässt, nimmt der Roman aber wieder an Fahrt auf. Ich habe "Das Fest" gerne gelesen, ein englischer Klassiker mit tollem Schauplatz, der sehr gut in den Spätsommer passt und Raum zum Mit- und Nachdenken lässt.
"Das Fest" von Margaret Kennedy (1896–1967), übersetzt von Mirjam Madlung, ist eine unterhaltsame literarische Wiederentdeckung mit Krimielementen. Die Autorin spart nicht an Übertreibungen, all ihre Hotelgäste haben etwas zu verbergen, während sie sich auf engstem Raum begegnen. Das Hotel an der idyllischen Küste Cornwalls bietet ein atmosphärisches Setting, ich liebe Romane, die in England in ländlichen Gegenden am Meer spielen. Es hat Spaß gemacht, die vielen verschiedenen Charaktere und ihre Hintergründe kennenzulernen, besonders gerne mochte ich dabei die Bedienstete Nancibel. In der Mitte des Buchs macht der Spannungsbogen leider einen Knick nach unten, die Geschichte plätschert dahin. Zum Finale hin, in dem die Autorin über ihre Figuren richtet und manche ihrem Schicksal überlässt, nimmt der Roman aber wieder an Fahrt auf. Ich habe "Das Fest" gerne gelesen, ein englischer Klassiker mit tollem Schauplatz, der sehr gut in den Spätsommer passt und Raum zum Mit- und Nachdenken lässt.
August 27, 2015
4 1/2
I can't think of anything to say that someone else hasn't already voiced. But I can say that The Feast was a thoroughly engrossing read revolving around a little hotel set up on a cliff, the disfunctional family who ran it aand their horrid mix of guests.
From the gossipy cook to the half-mad with worry young lady and her father as well as the master of the house who never does anything of use to the children running wild about the place something is bound to happen. And a feast may just decided who that something is going to happen to.
I really didn't think I'd end up enjoying this so much, I though it would be a dry character study. But it is not dry, and it beautifully captures the scenes, the cliff with the thrashing waves, the maddening girl who orchestrats the children and poor Nancy, the only character seemingly with her head screwed on right. Completely recommend.
G rating there is mention of mistresses, or more accurately a lady with her lover. Nothing shown to reader.
I can't think of anything to say that someone else hasn't already voiced. But I can say that The Feast was a thoroughly engrossing read revolving around a little hotel set up on a cliff, the disfunctional family who ran it aand their horrid mix of guests.
From the gossipy cook to the half-mad with worry young lady and her father as well as the master of the house who never does anything of use to the children running wild about the place something is bound to happen. And a feast may just decided who that something is going to happen to.
I really didn't think I'd end up enjoying this so much, I though it would be a dry character study. But it is not dry, and it beautifully captures the scenes, the cliff with the thrashing waves, the maddening girl who orchestrats the children and poor Nancy, the only character seemingly with her head screwed on right. Completely recommend.
G rating there is mention of mistresses, or more accurately a lady with her lover. Nothing shown to reader.
March 20, 2015
If you look at the dust jacket you'll see a small hotel at the base of a huge cliff. The cliff has been undermined by an errant mine that washed into a cave at its base and exploded. No ill effects are noted for some time. But then cracks appear at the top edge of the cliff and they get wider..and wider...a note is sent to the owners of the hotel urging them to abandon the building for safety but the letter goes unopened in a pile of correspondence and rubbish...
Meanwhile, life goes on in the little hotel. There's the petty squabblers,the mopers, the heroes, the innocents as well as the seriously deranged "monsters" and even a love interest or two. Margaret Kennedy develops characters with such depth of insight into the human psyche that I felt that if she was sitting in a room with me she could pick my brain apart and tell me a thing or two.
Such an unusual but fascinating book. The only other book I've read similar in style to this is Dorothy Evelyn Smith's The Lovely Day, a book where no one character steals the show but every member of the village is given a slice of the story.
Bottom line: Well worth a read!
CONTENT:
SEX: None shown to reader
VIOLENCE: None
PROFANITY: Very Mild
MY RATING: G
Meanwhile, life goes on in the little hotel. There's the petty squabblers,the mopers, the heroes, the innocents as well as the seriously deranged "monsters" and even a love interest or two. Margaret Kennedy develops characters with such depth of insight into the human psyche that I felt that if she was sitting in a room with me she could pick my brain apart and tell me a thing or two.
Such an unusual but fascinating book. The only other book I've read similar in style to this is Dorothy Evelyn Smith's The Lovely Day, a book where no one character steals the show but every member of the village is given a slice of the story.
Bottom line: Well worth a read!
CONTENT:
SEX: None shown to reader
VIOLENCE: None
PROFANITY: Very Mild
MY RATING: G
May 2, 2022
A thoroughly enjoyable read from start to finish.
July 7, 2024
First 5 star fiction of this year. A perfect summer read.
April 16, 2024
April 2024 — Even better the second time around. There were some things I got wrong the first time (thought someone had survived when we're explicitly told in the first chapter he wouldn't; attributed some thoughts during a sermon to the wrong character) that I cleared up this time. A fierce and forceful Flannerian grace saves sixteen souls who aren't as bad as the seven who die, but who are really not worthy of their deliverance. Kennedy's character creations continue to astound me—she's brilliant in that way. I think the book would lend itself to an excellent film adaptation in the right hands. Please do yourself the favor of reading this is you haven't already!
*****
August 2023 — Best new-to-me novel I've read yet this year.
C. S. Lewis was a fan, as well.
The setup is reminiscent of The Bridge of San Luis Ray.
The Feast starts with an old clergymen arriving at a crony's manse for their annual vacation. The host has broken one of their ground rules: no sermon-writing while they are off duty. But a tragedy has occurred—part of a cliff has broken off and crushed a small hotel, killing most of the occupants—and the old priest must prepare for the funeral service.
The clock then rewinds a bit, and we meet the proprietors, servants, and guests of the hotel. Kennedy's ability to portray a personality in one scene is astounding.
As a reader, I find myself hoping that one or another will be among the victims or the survivors, and then I realize that's probably a bad attitude, despite its being only fiction.
A few hours before I finished, I was sure the end was going to gut me, but I felt that, by framing the story as she did, Kennedy had prepared me for whatever the outcome would be. Forewarned is forearmed. It didn't feel like Dickens or the bad Trollopes or your average Russian novelist.
It's not often I read something this good that no one I know has reviewed on Goodreads, so I'm eager to share the good news of it. I foresee many rereads in my future.
It's also a good test case for Nate Wilson's terrible take on spoilers. I was glad I hadn't even read the book description before I read the whole book. I know I'll never get to read it again for the first time, but anyone who had told me the ending before I started would have done me a great disservice.
Narrator was good except when he got to the text of a couple of hymns and obviously had no understanding of what he was reading.
*****
August 2023 — Best new-to-me novel I've read yet this year.
C. S. Lewis was a fan, as well.
The setup is reminiscent of The Bridge of San Luis Ray.
The Feast starts with an old clergymen arriving at a crony's manse for their annual vacation. The host has broken one of their ground rules: no sermon-writing while they are off duty. But a tragedy has occurred—part of a cliff has broken off and crushed a small hotel, killing most of the occupants—and the old priest must prepare for the funeral service.
The clock then rewinds a bit, and we meet the proprietors, servants, and guests of the hotel. Kennedy's ability to portray a personality in one scene is astounding.
As a reader, I find myself hoping that one or another will be among the victims or the survivors, and then I realize that's probably a bad attitude, despite its being only fiction.
A few hours before I finished, I was sure the end was going to gut me, but I felt that, by framing the story as she did, Kennedy had prepared me for whatever the outcome would be. Forewarned is forearmed. It didn't feel like Dickens or the bad Trollopes or your average Russian novelist.
It's not often I read something this good that no one I know has reviewed on Goodreads, so I'm eager to share the good news of it. I foresee many rereads in my future.
It's also a good test case for Nate Wilson's terrible take on spoilers. I was glad I hadn't even read the book description before I read the whole book. I know I'll never get to read it again for the first time, but anyone who had told me the ending before I started would have done me a great disservice.
Narrator was good except when he got to the text of a couple of hymns and obviously had no understanding of what he was reading.
March 7, 2014
A novel about a group of people at a cliffside hotel on the Cornish coast in the days leading up to the hotel’s destruction. 1949.
Full review at Another look book
I was really, really impressed with Lucy Carmichael. I ordered my own copy; I added it to my "favorites" list. And then I read The Feast. And it's the best book I've ever read. Yes, I know that's a big statement!
Margaret Kennedy is quickly becoming my all-time favorite author. The way she put together The Feast, I'm convinced she was a first-rate literary genius.
I see an obsession in the making...
Full review at Another look book
I was really, really impressed with Lucy Carmichael. I ordered my own copy; I added it to my "favorites" list. And then I read The Feast. And it's the best book I've ever read. Yes, I know that's a big statement!
Margaret Kennedy is quickly becoming my all-time favorite author. The way she put together The Feast, I'm convinced she was a first-rate literary genius.
I see an obsession in the making...
September 7, 2021
Re-read, 2021: An allegory masquerading as domestic drama, building suspense and unease until the unforgettable conclusion. The seven deadly sins are all present and accounted for... but something's coming...
October 14, 2021
I have been meaning to read a lot more of Margaret Kennedy's work for quite some years now, ever since the lovely Jane launched her Margaret Kennedy Day, to celebrate the author's work. I only managed to participate a couple of times, but thoroughly enjoyed the experience of tracking down a couple of out-of-print tomes, one of which I had to stumble through online.
The Feast has always been on my radar, particularly as I know the novel is so well-loved by Kennedy's fans. Thankfully, it has been recently republished by Faber, and I was able to pick up a copy far more easily on this occasion. The novel, which has been described as 'magic' by The Guardian, and as having 'the miniature charm of a baby Austen' by the Observer, was first published in 1950. The Faber edition also contains a new introduction written by Cathy Rentzenbrink.
The Feast is set in Cornwall during the summer of 1947. Pendizack Manor, which overlooked the coast, has just been buried after a cliff collapse, and we are made aware from the outset that seven of the guests 'have perished, but what brought this strange assembly together for a moonlit feast before this act of God - or Man?' This is what we, dear reader, learn as the narrative shifts back to one week before the collapse. Over the course of this week, which has been split into separate days, we learn about each character.
Those staying in Pendizack Manor are certainly rather eclectic: 'the hotel guests in all their eccentric glory: the selfish aristocrat; slothful hotelier; snooping housekeeper; bereaved couple; bohemian authoress; and poverty-stricken children.' They form friendships and even romances with one another over the course of this week, but Kennedy is also clear about revealing their many sins, and those things which they would surely prefer to keep hidden.
Each character has a personal tragedy of some sort. Mr and Mrs Paley have lost their daughter. Lady Eirene Gifford can only eat a very specific diet, her doctor tells her, filled with such things as 'Poultry, game... fresh vegetables, green salads, fresh eggs, milk, butter', but 'Nothing out of a tin i.e. no powdered eggs, dried milk, etc., and no corned beef.' In a time of shortages due to postwar rationing, this proves rather difficult to provide. The three impoverished Cove children make friends with the well-to-do Gifford offspring, and are soon initiated into their 'secret society', named the Noble Covenant of Spartans.
Kennedy is quick to expose the rifts between characters, and what can be hidden within the family unit. Whilst in church, for instance, Sir Henry Gifford reflects of his children: 'They meant very little to him. They were Eirene's affair. Only one of them was his, and she was the least attractive.' A young woman named Evangeline, as another example, dreams of killing her difficult father by putting ground up glass in his food.
Reverend Bott - in his 'late fifties, Anglo-Catholic, celibate, and disconcertingly sincere' - in September 1947. Bott has been tasked with looking back at the disaster, in order to write the funeral sermon. In quite a vivid scene, he goes to visit the site with his friend, Reverend Seddon: 'There was a choking pall of dust which met them as they came down the hill to the cliffs, and they could see little. The hotel drive plunged downwards in steep zigzags, through trees and shrubs beside a little ravine. The silence below had already begun to chill his heart before he turned the second bend... A hill rose in front of him. There was no road down any more.'
We learn not only about the guests, and all of their many foibles, but also about those who work at the hotel. The discerning Dorothy Ellis is one such character. A week before the disaster, she writes to a friend: 'Well, this is not a hotel at all, only a boarding-house - all falling down and the roof leaking, you can see there has been nothing spent on it for years... They have lost all their money, so she [the proprietor, Mrs Siddal] got the bright idea to turn this into a boarding house because of course her darling boys have got to go to posh schools, just the same...'. Mrs Siddal is firmly in charge, and her husband is forced to 'live on his wife's labour - accept bread at her hands. He has no position here. He receives no respect.'
Rentzenbrink writes that Kennedy is 'clever to name the victim and let us know there are lots more, but also survivors with stories to tell' at the outset. She goes on to say that The Feast is set up as something rather akin to a crime novel; we wonder who has survived, and who has not lived to tell their tale. She also mentions the many devices which Kennedy uses to explore her characters, from letters and diaries, to monologues delivered to other characters, which results, for her, in a novel with 'such immediacy and texture'. I was interested in what Rentzenbrink had to say, but I must admit that I found her introduction rather too brief.
The Feast is described both as 'a glorious portrait of a seaside holiday in post-war Britain and a wise, witty fable.' There is comedy here, but I was struck that it was so well-balanced with the more serious aspects of the plot. The structure which Kennedy has chosen to use, with its use of more personal artifacts such as diary entries, proves to be highly revealing of her characters from the outset. I liked the way in which I knew what was going to happen, but not whom it would affect the most.
The omniscient narrative which occurs in every other chapter is another device which works well here, particularly alongside the other narrative techniques which Kennedy explores. Despite the many characters who are introduced in quick succession, the narrative is well controlled, and the story never feels overwhelming. The more serious elements of the story are peppered with amusing details, as well as a valuable commentary on postwar politics, and what it is like to live in a world which is trying to get back to what it was before.
Whilst I liked The Feast well enough, and was drawn to Kennedy's writing, I did not find the novel's ending particularly satisfactory. There was a lot of interest here to me as a reader, but I must say that I felt a little underwhelmed when I closed the final page. I expected that I would enjoy The Feast more than I did, and I have had this feeling with Kennedy's other books in the past, too. Many readers seem to adore her stories, but there is just something about them that does not quite come together for me. The Feast certainly has an intelligent idea at its heart, but I do not feel as though it quite sustained my interest.
The Feast has always been on my radar, particularly as I know the novel is so well-loved by Kennedy's fans. Thankfully, it has been recently republished by Faber, and I was able to pick up a copy far more easily on this occasion. The novel, which has been described as 'magic' by The Guardian, and as having 'the miniature charm of a baby Austen' by the Observer, was first published in 1950. The Faber edition also contains a new introduction written by Cathy Rentzenbrink.
The Feast is set in Cornwall during the summer of 1947. Pendizack Manor, which overlooked the coast, has just been buried after a cliff collapse, and we are made aware from the outset that seven of the guests 'have perished, but what brought this strange assembly together for a moonlit feast before this act of God - or Man?' This is what we, dear reader, learn as the narrative shifts back to one week before the collapse. Over the course of this week, which has been split into separate days, we learn about each character.
Those staying in Pendizack Manor are certainly rather eclectic: 'the hotel guests in all their eccentric glory: the selfish aristocrat; slothful hotelier; snooping housekeeper; bereaved couple; bohemian authoress; and poverty-stricken children.' They form friendships and even romances with one another over the course of this week, but Kennedy is also clear about revealing their many sins, and those things which they would surely prefer to keep hidden.
Each character has a personal tragedy of some sort. Mr and Mrs Paley have lost their daughter. Lady Eirene Gifford can only eat a very specific diet, her doctor tells her, filled with such things as 'Poultry, game... fresh vegetables, green salads, fresh eggs, milk, butter', but 'Nothing out of a tin i.e. no powdered eggs, dried milk, etc., and no corned beef.' In a time of shortages due to postwar rationing, this proves rather difficult to provide. The three impoverished Cove children make friends with the well-to-do Gifford offspring, and are soon initiated into their 'secret society', named the Noble Covenant of Spartans.
Kennedy is quick to expose the rifts between characters, and what can be hidden within the family unit. Whilst in church, for instance, Sir Henry Gifford reflects of his children: 'They meant very little to him. They were Eirene's affair. Only one of them was his, and she was the least attractive.' A young woman named Evangeline, as another example, dreams of killing her difficult father by putting ground up glass in his food.
Reverend Bott - in his 'late fifties, Anglo-Catholic, celibate, and disconcertingly sincere' - in September 1947. Bott has been tasked with looking back at the disaster, in order to write the funeral sermon. In quite a vivid scene, he goes to visit the site with his friend, Reverend Seddon: 'There was a choking pall of dust which met them as they came down the hill to the cliffs, and they could see little. The hotel drive plunged downwards in steep zigzags, through trees and shrubs beside a little ravine. The silence below had already begun to chill his heart before he turned the second bend... A hill rose in front of him. There was no road down any more.'
We learn not only about the guests, and all of their many foibles, but also about those who work at the hotel. The discerning Dorothy Ellis is one such character. A week before the disaster, she writes to a friend: 'Well, this is not a hotel at all, only a boarding-house - all falling down and the roof leaking, you can see there has been nothing spent on it for years... They have lost all their money, so she [the proprietor, Mrs Siddal] got the bright idea to turn this into a boarding house because of course her darling boys have got to go to posh schools, just the same...'. Mrs Siddal is firmly in charge, and her husband is forced to 'live on his wife's labour - accept bread at her hands. He has no position here. He receives no respect.'
Rentzenbrink writes that Kennedy is 'clever to name the victim and let us know there are lots more, but also survivors with stories to tell' at the outset. She goes on to say that The Feast is set up as something rather akin to a crime novel; we wonder who has survived, and who has not lived to tell their tale. She also mentions the many devices which Kennedy uses to explore her characters, from letters and diaries, to monologues delivered to other characters, which results, for her, in a novel with 'such immediacy and texture'. I was interested in what Rentzenbrink had to say, but I must admit that I found her introduction rather too brief.
The Feast is described both as 'a glorious portrait of a seaside holiday in post-war Britain and a wise, witty fable.' There is comedy here, but I was struck that it was so well-balanced with the more serious aspects of the plot. The structure which Kennedy has chosen to use, with its use of more personal artifacts such as diary entries, proves to be highly revealing of her characters from the outset. I liked the way in which I knew what was going to happen, but not whom it would affect the most.
The omniscient narrative which occurs in every other chapter is another device which works well here, particularly alongside the other narrative techniques which Kennedy explores. Despite the many characters who are introduced in quick succession, the narrative is well controlled, and the story never feels overwhelming. The more serious elements of the story are peppered with amusing details, as well as a valuable commentary on postwar politics, and what it is like to live in a world which is trying to get back to what it was before.
Whilst I liked The Feast well enough, and was drawn to Kennedy's writing, I did not find the novel's ending particularly satisfactory. There was a lot of interest here to me as a reader, but I must say that I felt a little underwhelmed when I closed the final page. I expected that I would enjoy The Feast more than I did, and I have had this feeling with Kennedy's other books in the past, too. Many readers seem to adore her stories, but there is just something about them that does not quite come together for me. The Feast certainly has an intelligent idea at its heart, but I do not feel as though it quite sustained my interest.
July 10, 2025
I loved this! Utterly engrossing with the most eccentric slew of characters
September 24, 2024
6 stars! And I’m ordering every Margaret Kennedy novel that’s in print.
September 3, 2023
I first heard about this book on Miranda Mills’ YouTube channel and then subsequently on the Tea or Books? podcast. Both times, I thought: “Eh, that’s not the book for me.” But then, I saw others whose book taste I trust reading it and raving about it. And I was feeling something of a Margaret Kennedy kick coming on after seeing my friend Christine read another of her books. Sometimes there’s right book, right time and sometimes there’s right author, right time. This was both.
I loved this book! I also had possibly the most unique reading experience with it that I can remember. The book opens with one Anglican priest on vacation who is visiting his Anglican priest friend in Cornwall. Usually they have a grand old time together, but the resident pastor has the grim task of leading a funeral for the seven victims of an eroded cliff that collapsed onto a small hotel nearby. We know the identity of one of those seven but the identities of the other six are a mystery.
I loved this book! I also had possibly the most unique reading experience with it that I can remember. The book opens with one Anglican priest on vacation who is visiting his Anglican priest friend in Cornwall. Usually they have a grand old time together, but the resident pastor has the grim task of leading a funeral for the seven victims of an eroded cliff that collapsed onto a small hotel nearby. We know the identity of one of those seven but the identities of the other six are a mystery.
July 11, 2021
This clever and dark psychological suspense novel is, in a number of ways, unlike any other I’ve read and it completely blew me away.
The novel’s setup is intriguing: the prologue tells us that a cliff has fallen on a hotel and that the only hotel guests who survived were in another location at the time, enjoying “the feast”. Then, with that knowledge under our hats, we go back in time and live in the hotel with the owners and guests for the 7 days leading up to the cliff’s collapse.
The structure is interesting as well, a third-person narrative woven with letters and diary entries to form a compelling portrayal of fascinating characters. A few of them are likeable people while most of them are quite horrid, but all are amazing portrayals of human nature. For example, this is one of the best descriptions of passive-aggressive behavior I’ve ever read:
Mr. Siddal ate his porridge and turned timid glances from one face to another. He was doing his silent best to make them feel uncomfortable. He was pointedly managing to be left out. Yet they knew that if they were to make any attempt to include him in the conversation he would disclaim all understanding of it. The affairs of the hotel, he would imply, were too much for the intellect of such a worm as himself.
And in this scene the hotel’s landlady confuses a lack of verbal abuse with kindness:
His priestly garments only made him more formidable, for they threatened eternal punishment to anyone so rash as to disagree with him. She…determined to say that she had no rooms after all. But the Canon, who had got out of his car and was standing in the porch, was so very civil and affable, and she felt it to be so great a concession that he did not seem to be angry with her, that in a burst of gratitude she let him the rooms at once.
I found the story very suspenseful and I was constantly wondering who would survive and who wouldn’t make it.
This novel is for you if you enjoyed “Rebecca” or “My Cousin Rachel” by Daphne du Maurier and you love the way THE AUTHOR PLAYS MIND GAMES WITH YOU.
CONTENT: Although nothing is shown to the reader, there are mentions of physical neglect (in the form of withholding available food and medical care) and verbal/emotional abuse, as well as extramarital sex. You know that it’s happening but it happens “off screen” so you don’t actually “see” it.
TRIGGER ALERT: Although the reader experiences the collapse of the cliff and the hotel with the survivors and not with the victims, for people who have lost a loved one in a building collapse, this novel could be triggering.
The novel’s setup is intriguing: the prologue tells us that a cliff has fallen on a hotel and that the only hotel guests who survived were in another location at the time, enjoying “the feast”. Then, with that knowledge under our hats, we go back in time and live in the hotel with the owners and guests for the 7 days leading up to the cliff’s collapse.
The structure is interesting as well, a third-person narrative woven with letters and diary entries to form a compelling portrayal of fascinating characters. A few of them are likeable people while most of them are quite horrid, but all are amazing portrayals of human nature. For example, this is one of the best descriptions of passive-aggressive behavior I’ve ever read:
Mr. Siddal ate his porridge and turned timid glances from one face to another. He was doing his silent best to make them feel uncomfortable. He was pointedly managing to be left out. Yet they knew that if they were to make any attempt to include him in the conversation he would disclaim all understanding of it. The affairs of the hotel, he would imply, were too much for the intellect of such a worm as himself.
And in this scene the hotel’s landlady confuses a lack of verbal abuse with kindness:
His priestly garments only made him more formidable, for they threatened eternal punishment to anyone so rash as to disagree with him. She…determined to say that she had no rooms after all. But the Canon, who had got out of his car and was standing in the porch, was so very civil and affable, and she felt it to be so great a concession that he did not seem to be angry with her, that in a burst of gratitude she let him the rooms at once.
I found the story very suspenseful and I was constantly wondering who would survive and who wouldn’t make it.
This novel is for you if you enjoyed “Rebecca” or “My Cousin Rachel” by Daphne du Maurier and you love the way THE AUTHOR PLAYS MIND GAMES WITH YOU.
CONTENT: Although nothing is shown to the reader, there are mentions of physical neglect (in the form of withholding available food and medical care) and verbal/emotional abuse, as well as extramarital sex. You know that it’s happening but it happens “off screen” so you don’t actually “see” it.
TRIGGER ALERT: Although the reader experiences the collapse of the cliff and the hotel with the survivors and not with the victims, for people who have lost a loved one in a building collapse, this novel could be triggering.
July 16, 2023
Very cleverly written. I’ll be thinking about this for quite a long time.
August 24, 2021
From the beautiful cover of the book to the storyline itself – everything appealed to me about this book. That was until I started reading it…
The book was written in 1950 and set in 1947. It opens with a conversation between two clergymen, who reveal the end of the story: the collapse of a cliff in Cornwall, which subsequently buries Pendizack Manor Hotel and some of its inhabitants. The following chapter (and the remainder of the book) is set some months earlier, but a week before the tragedy. It is here that we meet the cast of characters. As with any book, there are characters that you love and those that you hate. For me, I didn’t like any of them. Some were just evil, others bland and then there were those that I saw little point in them being written into the book. Throughout the book you are left guessing as to which of the characters you think are going to die and which will survive.
The Feast failed to capture me from the start. I read around a third of the book when I wished I had simply put it down and moved on. But I decided to persevere, as I thought that the ending will at least be of interest. I was wrong. The actual collapse of the cliff was summarised in little under a paragraph.
This book could be classed as a thriller, a summer romance, a family saga, or even a modern-day morality play. I did enjoy the portrait of a post-war seaside holiday but other than that, I found the book to be somewhat disjointed and unengaging.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t one for me.
The book was written in 1950 and set in 1947. It opens with a conversation between two clergymen, who reveal the end of the story: the collapse of a cliff in Cornwall, which subsequently buries Pendizack Manor Hotel and some of its inhabitants. The following chapter (and the remainder of the book) is set some months earlier, but a week before the tragedy. It is here that we meet the cast of characters. As with any book, there are characters that you love and those that you hate. For me, I didn’t like any of them. Some were just evil, others bland and then there were those that I saw little point in them being written into the book. Throughout the book you are left guessing as to which of the characters you think are going to die and which will survive.
The Feast failed to capture me from the start. I read around a third of the book when I wished I had simply put it down and moved on. But I decided to persevere, as I thought that the ending will at least be of interest. I was wrong. The actual collapse of the cliff was summarised in little under a paragraph.
This book could be classed as a thriller, a summer romance, a family saga, or even a modern-day morality play. I did enjoy the portrait of a post-war seaside holiday but other than that, I found the book to be somewhat disjointed and unengaging.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t one for me.
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