Classics · LightWith their employers away, the servants of an Irish country house pursue their own rivalries during the Second World War
Loving
by Henry Green
Servants run an Irish country house as rumours of the war circulate
The novel is set in an Irish country house during the Second World War, and its characters are the household servants, both above and below stairs. Their employers, the Tennants, are absent. The servants encroach on one another's areas of authority, which creates an "anarchic environment" of self-seeking, pilfering, gossip and love, while rumours circulate about the war in Europe. Hogarth Press published it in 1945.
More about this book
Who
The household servants of an Irish country house.
World
An Irish country house during the Second World War.
What makes it different
The cover art is by John Piper. In a 1958 Paris Review interview, Green said the idea came from a fellow firefighter's account of an elderly butler's favourite pleasures.
Feel
Gossipy and understated.
Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition
Further reading
- LovingWikipedia