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The Feast

The Summer Holiday Seaside Crime Classic
By Margaret Kennedy
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3.93 goodreads logo

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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The Feast by Margaret Kennedy is set in a picturesque Cornish hotel where guests from all walks of life gather for a summer holiday. As relationships intertwine and secrets unfold, the narrative builds towards a dramatic climax that reflects the characters' moral and personal dilemmas. The novel skillfully blends humour, social commentary, and mystery, offering a vivid portrait of post-WWII society.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book may appeal to you if you enjoy immersive narratives set in historical contexts, filled with rich character development and intriguing plot twists. Its exploration of human nature and moral dilemmas amidst a post-war setting offers both a thought-provoking and entertaining reading experience.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

This 'superb' (Elizabeth Bowen) rediscovered gem will make you nostalgic for 1940s seaside holidays: a Cornish hotel is mysteriously buried by a landslide, but what brought its eccentric guests together?

This summer holiday vintage crime classic exploring the mystery of a buried Cornish hotel invites us to solve the puzzle as detectives: perfect for fans of Celia Fremlin's Uncle Paul, Agatha Christie, or Richard Osman ...

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Tense, touching, human, dire, and funny, The Feast is a feast indeed. - Elizabeth Bowen

Cornwall, Midsummer 1947. Reverend Seddon is on his annual seaside holiday with Father Bott; but to his disgruntlement, his host is busy writing a funeral sermon after a local disaster. Pendizack Manor Hotel—a coastal boarding house perched in a sleepy cove—has just been buried in the rubble of a collapsed cliff. Seven guests have perished beneath the Cornish boulders: but who are they, and what brought this strange assembly together for a moonlit feast before succumbing to this Act of God—or Man?

Over the course of a week before the landslide, we are introduced to these holidaymakers in all their eccentric glory: the selfish aristocrat and her bullying offspring; slothful hotelier; snooping housekeeper; jilted chambermaid; bohemian authoress with her chauffeur toyboy; bereaved couple; poverty-stricken family; cranky canon and his terrified daughter. As guests of all classes and backgrounds are thrown together, friendships form, romances blossom, sins are revealed, and the cliff cracks widen...

Kennedy is not only a romantic but an anarchist, and she knows the ways of men and women very well indeed. - Anita Brookner

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

The Feast by Margaret Kennedy is well-regarded for its compelling character development and intricate plotting. Set against the backdrop of a Cornish hotel, the narrative explores human nature and morality. It has been praised for its witty and insightful social commentary, offering readers both humour and suspense.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780571367795

Publisher: Faber & Faber

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 03 June 2021

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Faber & Faber

Edition: Main

Contributors:

  • Introduction by Cathy Rentzenbrink
  • Introduction by Cathy Rentzenbrink

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 26.0mm

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 371g

Pages: 448

Collections

Classic Crime & Mystery Fiction Classic Fiction Classic Horror & Ghost Stories Crime & Thriller Fiction General Fiction Horror & Supernatural Margaret Kennedy Travel & Adventure

About the Author

Margaret Kennedy was born in London in 1896 and read History at Somerville College, Oxford in 1915 (alongside Winifred Holtby and Vera Brittain) where she began writing. In 1924, Kennedy's second novel The Constant Nymph became a worldwide bestseller which she adapted into a hit West End play starring Noel Coward (three different star-studded film versions followed). Described as 'superb' by Elizabeth Bowen, Kennedy wrote fifteen further prize-winning novels including The Feast in 1950, as well as literary criticism and a biography of Jane Austen. She died in 1967.

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