The sweet dove died

Between the amorous antique dealer Humphrey and his good-looking nephew James glides the magnificent Leonora, delicate as porcelain, cool as ice. Can she keep James in her thrall? Or will he be taken from her by a lover, like Phoebe . . . or Ned, the wicked American?'A highly distinctive and - ultimately - charitable novel' Financial Times'Faultless' Guardian'Her Characters are all meticulously impaled on the delicate pins of a wit that is as scrupulous as it is deadly' Observer'A coldly funny book' Sunday Telegraph'Highly distinctive . . . the critics who have recently insisted on Miss Pym's too long neglected gifts have not been wrong' Financial Times