Conville & Walsh

A BRIDESHEAD REVISITED for the twenty-first century; a wonderfully warm and witty lament for the passing of the old ways.

Sir Michael Gough is a 66-year-old aristocrat fallen on hard times. He used to manage the family pile, Sitten Hall, but he’s been forced to ‘gift’ it to the National Trust. Now he’s in a borrowed barn; his mother, Granny Banana, is seeing out her last in Greenaways Nursing Home; his brother Philip lives in suburbia with his exotic young wife and three children.

But Michael’s doing ok – at least until Granny Banana falls out of the Land Rover. He would like to give her the funeral she wanted – to be buried back at Sitten Hall with her cherished dog. But the family coffers aren’t what they were, and the rest of the family insist on a cremation. Michael decides to steal her ashes, but a farcical series of events means that Granny Banana ends up in a cake which is to be presented as a raffle prize at the local swimming gala…

Written with great humour, verve and belief in the power of the human spirit, THE OLD COUNTRY is the work of an author at the height of his powers.