'A gloriously funny, bumpy ride through modern times.' (Andrew Barrow
THE EVENING STANDARD )
'he knows too, how to create memorable characters. Working with an upper-class cast Fellowes populates PAST IMPERFECT with a gallery of sometimes grotesque but mostly affetionately drawn toffs - acidly observed by the narrator, ever peevish, ever diverting.' (Peter Burton
THE DAILY EXPRESS )
'PAST IMPERFECT is both a historical document for that vanished era and a comedy of manners....... sharply perceptive and required reading for anyone who was there.' (Claire Colvin
THE DAILY MAIL )
'Its plot cannot fail to grip the reader...... what elevates this novel to much more than a comedy of manners is the depth of compassion the author displays for his characters.' (Elisa Segrave
THE SPECTATOR )
'An elegant satire, it offers an entertaining commentary on our times and a heartfelt lament for a kinder, more courteous Britain' (Sebastian Shakespeare
TATLER )
A witty take on the world as it was and is now' (
WOMAN AND HOME )
'It is amusingly written, ends neatly, quietly subverts the surface stereotyping of its characters, and will have a certain kind of social historian swooning with pleasure.' (DJ Taylor
THE GUARDIAN )
'Very entertaining - think a more self-aware and sophisticated Jilly Cooper..... the result is that rare thing - an intelligent and insightful blockbuster.' (
GLOSS MAGAZINE )
'An elegy for a long-lost class ill-equipped to deal with its inevitable demise.' (Clare Allfree
METRO )
'A funny poignant story from the actor and Oscar-winning writer of Gosford Park' (
BELLA MAGAZINE )
'Elegantly written, it says much about the times that we've lived through.' (
CHOICE MAGAZINE )
'A witty page-turner for those who love reading about the toffs antics of yesteryear.' (
EASY LIVING )
'compelling' (Jane Shilling
THE TIMES )
'Elegantly written, intelligent, thoughtful and witty' (
THE GLASGOW EVENING TIMES )
'A sometimes poignant, sometimes rueful elegy to the era when AA men saluted you' (Lizy Buchan
SUNDAY TIMES )
Damian Baxter is hugely wealthy and dying. He lives alone in a big house in Surrey, looked after by a chauffeur, butler, cook and housemaid. He has but one concern - his fortune in excess of 500 million and who should inherit it on his death. PAST IMPERFECT is the story of a quest. Damian Baxter wishes to know if he has a living heir. By the time he married in his late thirties he was sterile (the result of adult mumps), but what about before that unfortunate illness? He was not a virgin. Had he sired a child? A letter from a girlfriend from these times suggests he did. But the letter is anonymous. Damian contacts someone he knew from their days at university. He gives him a list of girls he slept with and sets him a task: find his heir!