Such Pleasure

by Martin Boyd

Bridget Malwyn, the illegitimate daughter of a wild Irish peer, is brought to live amongst the decaying splendours of his castle in County Galway, until his death in her 16th year. When his puritanical successor turns her out penniless, she is forced to work in a draper's shop in Bedfordshire.
The restrictions and humiliations of her new life gives Bridget an exaggerated sense of the value of the life she has left, and she is determined — with an intensity that later betrays her — to recapture the spirit and status of her early years.

376 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1949

About the author

Martin à Beckett Boyd (10 June 1893 - 3 June 1972) was an Australian writer born Lucerne, Switzerland, into the à Beckett-Boyd family—a family synonymous with the establishment, the judiciary, publishing and literature, and the visual arts since the early 19th century in Australia.
Boyd was an expatriate novelist, memoirist, and poet who spent most of his life after World War One in Europe, primarily Britain. His work drew heavily on his own life and family, with his novels frequently exploring the experiences of the Anglo-Australian upper and middle classes. His writing was also deeply influenced by his experience of serving in World War One.
His siblings included the potter William Merric Boyd (1888–1959), painters Theodore Penleigh Boyd (1890–1923) and Helen à Beckett Read, née Boyd (1903–1999). He was intensely involved in family life and took a keen interest in the development of his nephews and nieces, and their families, including potter Lucy Beck (b. 1916), painter Arthur Boyd (1920 - 1999), sculptor Guy Boyd (1923 - 1988), painter David Boyd (1924 - 2011), painter Mary Nolan (b.1926) - who was married to painters John Perceval and Sidney Nolan, and architect Robin Boyd (1919 - 1971). His nephew Guy Boyd was his literary executor.

Reviews

[Ivan Monckton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Boy, this great uncle in law of mine could write!